The Hunter
by Fobmaster
Summary: Daryl Dixon's life is suddenly thrust into a living nightmare. People are dead and walking, and the struggle to survive is brutal. How will he deal with his first couple of days surviving the zombie apocalypse? Based on video game plot.
1. Anger

**About: Daryl's story, beginning to end. I added a few of my own twists and turns, but it's based off of the TV show, and the video game. A few of the video game characters that Daryl meets along the way I might use, but not all of them. I may also cut out the unimportant parts in the beginning so that we may catch up to season 3. This is going to be a long fic, so bear with me please. I don't own the walking dead, so yeah.**

Epilogue

Deep inside the woods and forests of the Georgia Mountains, lays a small creek bed. It's a beautiful summer day, a slight cool breeze blows across the water, rippling it, ruining the reflection it casted. A buck dips its little deer lips into the brook, tasting the sweet water. Across the creek bed, there is a line of bushes. Lying in those bushes is the hunter. He has a brown hunting rifle in his hands, and he's about to kill. He licked his lips as he thought about the tasty venison meat they would have for supper. He lined his scope up with his prey, hoping to god he would shoot it. He takes a deep breath, and right as he's about to pull the trigger, he heard a piercing scream, followed by gunshots. The hunter quickly scrambled from his hiding spot, and ran as fast as he could. When he turned the corner on the rock bend, he couldn't comprehend what was happening. Both shock and confusion ran through his mind.

Before him, his buddy, Buck, was lying on the ground. His belly was ripped open, revealing guts and blood. It almost wanted to make the hunter vomit. Two people, man and woman, were crouched by his friend, eating the contents of his once friend. What were they doing? There aren't supposed to be any cannibals around here…..

"Hey! Stop it! That's my friend!" he hollered at them

Slowly, the man and the woman stood up, and turned around, to reveal bloody faces, grey skin, and milky eyes. The hunter's reaction to this was pulling out his rifle, cocking it back, and taking fire. He shot the man in the head, but the woman lunged for him, arms outstretched, teeth gnashing. Suddenly the hunter felt a hand on his back. He jumped when he noticed it was another one. He bashed it's head with the butt of the rifle. But then he was grabbed from behind, and then he felt teeth sink into his left shoulder. He let out a scream, which attracted more of those stupid things. He felt the excruciating pain of his stomach being torn open by rotting teeth. And that's when he blacked out.

…

The hunter woke up to one of those things eating at his arm, which was half gone, and bloody. Just then, a gunshot was fired, and the cannibal went down. The hunter watched as his step brother, Jess stepped out from the tree. His brother's eyes widened as he saw what those things had done to him.

"What in the hell?! Dixon?" Jess cried out after walking over to his brother's body. Jess knelt down by his brother, but was suddenly attacked by one of those flesh eating people. Jess yelped as the thing bit him, but he pushed the thing off of him, and pulled out his hand gun, shooting it square in the head. After examining his arm for a few seconds, he returned his attention to the hunter. He hung his head shaking it vigorously.

"aww Dix, naw, no man.." he said with another head shake.

The hunters throat was like parchment paper as he spoke a feeble " help me…"

Jess placed a hand on the hunters head, whistling as he pulled his hand it.

"Your burnin' up man…" he muttered.

Suddenly the bushes rustled a bit, and Jess looked up. He sighed in relief as he recognized the person.

"Daryl, you okay?"

The young man staggered over to where the hunter lay.

"Dad? Oh dad, no! We, we could…." His voice faded away as he took in his father's state. Jess looked at the hunter, then to Daryl. He sighed and said,

"Daryl… he's to busted up… all we can do now is… ease his sufferings."

Daryl's face fell. He looked just like his father. Same blue eyes, Blonde hair. The only difference was that Daryl had a short beard and a small mole above his mouth.

The younger Dixon let out a puff of air, and pulled out his gun. He slowly cocked it, as he watched his fathers scared pleading eyes. He aimed the gun at his Dad's forehead. He looked away at first, lowering his gun. But then he raised it again, with a shaky hand. He couldn't do it. Not his own father. No.

Jess sighed, and grabbed the gun from him. Daryl looked away, sad written all over his face. Jess pointed the gun at his brothers head and said,

"I'm sorry brother."

He pulled the trigger, the echo ringing in Daryl's Ears.

…..

Chapter One: Anger

Daryl turned on the faucet, cold water running into the bowl of the sink. He dipped his hands into the water, pressing his face into his cupped hands and gave a little sigh. The water felt good against his sunburned face.

He shook his head a few times, and when his vision came into focus, he saw himself standing there, in the mirror. The man looked back at him, an angry and sad grimace on his face. He squinted his eyes, and balled his hands into fists. He glanced at the old photo of him with his brother, Merle. They both were smiling hard, glad because they had brought down a huge buck. Merle was holding it by the horns, with Daryl next to him, his crossbow slung over his shoulder. That was last years hunting season.

Daryl looked back at the mirror. Anger flowed from his head to his toes. And he let out a grunt as he smashed the stupid mirror with his fist. It shattered to a million pieces.

Daryl placed a hand on his forehead, and he glanced down at the hunting knife near the sink. He stuck it in his belt and pulled up his coveralls. Daryl exited the bathroom, where he found Jess looking at a map of Georgia. Jess looked up and caught Daryl's eye.

"come here, we need to work up a plan." Jess said.

Daryl nodded, and pulled up a chair, sitting.

They were quiet for a few seconds, then Daryl spoke up.

"Ever see anything like that?" he asked.

Jess rubbed his arm and shook his head. "If you told me I'd call you a liar."

Suddenly, a loud bang on the windows startled them both. Daryl gritted his teeth in anger.

"Listen! There more of 'em comin."

Jess nodded. " We gotta go!"

Daryl shook his head. He just lost his fuckin father. Of course he was gonna take his anger out on those damn things.

"The only thing we gotta do is kill every last one of them." He argued.

Jess shook his head. " look, I know your upset and all, but that sound like a whole lot'a them. We need to get out of here. Gather up all that you can, and meet me outside."

Daryl sighed and nodded. Defeated.

"let's go then." He muttered angrily.

"wait!" Jess said " remember what we learned about em. Head trauma. Attack the Brain. Only thing we know that kills them. And be quiet sneakin around. Don't let them see you go out the back door."

Daryl nodded, and grabbed the knife. He quickly and quietly exited the back door.

_Oh god. If your up there, please help us…. _He silently pleaded.


	2. Disgusting

**Thanks for reading. I got a good feeling about this. **

Chapter Two: Disgusting

Daryl crouched down as low as he could. His heart pounded in his chest like a drum. He watched the monster carefully, planning out his attack. If something were to go wrong, he'd end up that things new meal. He watched as the cannibal ducked down to feed on a dead squirrel. Now was his chance. He quietly ran up to it, and stabbed the head of the beast, killing it instantly. Daryl let out a quiet sigh of relief as he sheathed his knife.

He hurried along the path to the hut where they cleaned their kills. Along the way, he spotted a female cannibal staggering toward the direction of the hut. Daryl ran up to it, and kicked it on the ground. It snarled at him and tried to grab his shirt. But Daryl was ready. He stabbed the thing twice in the face and got off the body. Blood stained his red cut off shirt and jeans, and the face of the woman looked mangled and disgusting. the things eyes were pushed back into it's skull, and the face was a complete bloody mash. oh and the smell,...god it stunk. the stench made Daryl's eyes water.

Daryl soon found the hunting hut, and saw three of the things eating at the dead carcasses of deer. He hid behind a rock, thinking about what he should do next. He made his fifth silent prayer of the day which was unusual because he was not a Christian man, but he felt like God was the only person listening right now, and it felt like it was right.

Again, he lunged forward, sinking his knife into the things skull, and twisting. He caught the attention of the two other cannibals, and they got up, making their way toward him. He kicked and punched the closest one to him, giving him time to strike the other one in the skull. And when the one on the ground got up, Daryl delivered another blow to the head. All three of the monsters were dead.

"Dirty rotten bastards…" he muttered.

He searched the hut for anything useful, stumbling upon a half empty gas canister. That would have to do for now. He picked it up, and headed in the direction of the cabin, which wasn't that far. He jogged as fast as he could despite the heavy gas tank he was carrying. When he rounded the bend, he could barely make out Jess's white pickup. Because there were more of those things, about twelve, blocking his way.

"shit…" he cursed as he hid behind one of the old cars that were in the back of the cabin. He noticed the empty beer bottles and wrappers from previous nights of partying. Somehow he knew that he wouldn't be doing much partying after today, considering what just happened.

He suddenly got an idea. He picked up the glass bottle. If noise draws these things, then he hoped that this would work.

He mustered up all his strength, and threw the bottle as far away as he could. He heard it smash somewhere far to his left, and all of those things turned in the bottles direction.

Bingo.

Daryl bolted from his hiding spot, and ran toward the pickup truck, Jess was waiting for him.

"Get a move on Daryl!" Jess hissed form the front seat.

Daryl waved him off, and quickly turned the gas knob on the side of the truck. He heard far off groans and snarls. He poured the liquid into the tank and screwed on the cap.

"hurry up!" Jess called.

Daryl flung the door open, and jumped inside. Jess was already speeding out of the cabin's driveway, running over a few of those nasty monsters on the way.

For a while, Daryl and Jess just sat without a word. Jess was obviously a little shaken up by the fact that he had to shoot his stepbrother in the head. And well, Daryl…..he was just sad and angry. He was bottling up his anger though because now was not the time to blow. Not in the middle of this cluster fuck.

Jess finally reached over, and turned on the cars radio. Nothing but static. He flipped through the channels for a bit just to come to the conclusion that nothing was working. He flipped out his cell phone, but found that it was not working either.

"not a damn thing…shit…" he mumbled.

When Daryl kept staring out the window, Jess rubbed his eyes sadly. He'd never seen Daryl this upset before. He always seemed so tough to Jess.

"Hey… about your dad…I …don't know what to say about it.." he said solemnly. Truly, he didn't know what to say. He never had dealt with death in a good way. So it was probably best to tell Daryl he had nothing to say.

Daryl glanced at his half uncle, frustrated that Jess figured out that he was sad. He was frankly, but he didn't want it to show. He was supposed to be tough, so he replied with a cold stone voice,

"Then don't…leave it be."

Jess pursed his pale lips together, and kept staring at the road. After more silence, Daryl spoke again.

"We gotta tell Merle what happened." He suggested.

Jess nodded. "Yeah I suppose we do. But we gotta warn other people first…" he trailed off.

Daryl screwed up his face and then answered Jess.

"What? Got to the cops? Please! We gotta go get Merle."

"Well Merle, he's….not right man…"

Daryl glared at Jess. "What'choo just say to me old man?! Merle's ten times the man you'll ever be."

Jess gave up. "alright, alright… it's just you boys turn hay into shit when your together."

Daryl chuckled. Jess did have a point. But he didn't care. Right now, his main priority was Merle.

Later on, Daryl closed his eyes, just for a bit. He needed to sort some of this shit out in his own mind. He decided to recap what all happened in his head.

_I woke up this mornin', had a beer. Cleaned my guns, dad yelled at me for coverin' up the deer all wrong. We all went huntin'. I was just about to kill me some squirrels, when I heard screamin' and gun shots, but I was to late…my Dad lay there half eaten by some cannibalistic freaks…._

Daryl opened his eyes. He was astonished by how fast things could turn to shit. He remembered when he was younger when he was just laying around the house, watching cartoons, and then his Dad would come home, drunk and angry. And he would take his anger out on poor Daryl.

The hunter shook his head a little. No, those memories were supposed to be forgotten, but his father's death seemed to make him remember all the bad things he did to Daryl. Suddenly, Daryl didn't feel so angry and sad about his father's death.

_Good riddance yew dirty bastard…I hope there's a bottle of JAck Daniels with your name on it in hell…_

Many hours later,

Jess stopped the car because they were low on gas, and he needed to take a piss.

"Daryl, I'll look for some grub for us, you look for some gas. Hurry, I don't want any trouble with them demons walkin' around."

Daryl grabbed his hunting knife and turned to leave.

He ran as fast and quietly as he could towards the small town.


	3. Gasoline

**Thanks for the first reviews:) Enjoy my fellow Walking Dead friends**

Chapter Three: Gasoline

Daryl squeezed past the oil truck that was awkwardly pushed in front of the towns entrance. Daryl assumed that the truck was placed there to keep the cannibals out. It obviously didn't work. The hunter made his way over to a small convenient store. It was pitch dark, and all the shelves were either tipped over, or bare. Daryl scoped out the place for any of those stupid freaks, and there were none. He found a door at the back of the store. He opened it, just to see a cannibal eating a dead dog. Daryl wrinkled his nose, it smelled like shit. He swiftly went up to the thing, and kicked it in the back of the head. He then stabbed it. It lay there dead. He kicked it in the head just one more time, for good measure. Daryl spit on the monster, disgusted by it's grizzly behavior. How can those things just eat people? And what was making all this shit happen? Daryl sniffed the air. He smelled smoke.

He looked up into the sky, and saw the gray cloud of smoke drift from the top of the building he had just come out of. A ladder was attached to the side of the building, so Daryl climbed it. Maybe someone could explain to him what was going on.

When Daryl reached the top, he saw a man standing near a lit barrel. He looked like he was some form of law enforcement. _Great…_

The man turned around, startled by the footsteps of Daryl, but he sighed in relief as it was just another human being.

"hey you…what the hells going on around here?" Daryl said, straight forward and to the point.

The officer sighed and shook his head. "nobody knows…I'm Jimmy Blake, last standing officer of the Sedalia S.O.." said the man.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Good for you."

Daryl sighed as he looked on the other side of the roof. He spotted a few of those stupid monsters below, walking around. He looked at Jimmy.

"Psychos all over this place too.." he trailed off.

Jimmy gave him a stupid look. " The biters? Yeah their everywhere man. Where have you been?"

"Up in the hills. Huntin'. Didn't know about em' till the tore up our camp. Still don't"

Jimmy glanced around him. "uh huh. Let me bring you up to speed. More and more of them come each day. We help each other survive…..or we don't. Normal rules suspended for a foreseeable future. That applies to goo guys, and well…hunter. Ten four?"

Daryl processed what Jimmy just told him. _Foreseeable future? How long was this going to go on for?_

Daryl realized that Jimmy was waiting for him to answer. So he nodded. "yeah I get it…but, who's we?"

Jimmy licked his lips, and sighed. "that is anyone that is still alive.."

Daryl shook his head. He was hoping that jimmy wouldn't say that. Daryl looked across the street at the gas station. It had no pumps for gas.

"that gas station….does it have any gas?" he asked Jimmy.

Jimmy followed his gaze across the street and made a clicking sound with his tongue.

"I'm not sure. I've been up here ever since the other troopers got…well…y'know.."

Daryl pursed his lips. He needed to find gas before night fall.

" do y'know anywhere that I can get gas from?"

Jimmy thought for a moment and then nodded his head.

"There's a trailer park at the south end of the town. Y'might find some there."

Daryl nodded. "you don't happen to have a radio on ya? A working one?"

Jimmy nodded once again. "yeah, but the batteries went dead two days back. If you want to use it, you'll have to find me two batteries."

Daryl had his mission. He left Jimmy on the roof, with a promise to be back later. He climbed down the ladder, and went through the convenient store again. He searched the empty and dumped over shelves for any batteries. All he found was an energy drink bottle, and a pack of band aids. He stuffed the bottle and the box in his black backpack he managed to take with him. But, he did not find any batteries.

When he made it outside, he ducked behind the oil truck, looking to his left and right. Two of those biters (as Jimmy called them) were staggering around, moaning in what sounded like pain.

_I wonder how Merle is…_

A loud snarl pulled Daryl out of his thoughts. The biter was walking briskly over to where Daryl had been hiding. It had seen him.

"Fuck…." He muttered, as he lunged forward, and stabbed the thing in the eye. He twisted the knife, and could hear the squishy churning sounds it made. He stabbed it again, and the biter dropped to the ground.

The other one had also noticed Daryl and approached him from behind. It grabbed the back of Daryl's shirt, and yanked him backwards.

The hunter quickly twirled around, ripping his shirt, and punched the fucker in the face. He kept punching the Cannibal in the face, until it was a bloody mash on the ground.

The hunter panted, and looked around him, in case any other biters had seen or heard him. He was alone.

"Oh come fucking on…" he cursed, as he examined his ruined shirt. He took it off, and wrapped it around his waist. He was going to have to find a new one.

Daryl headed to the southern part of the town, and hid well among the shops and houses.

When he neared the gas station, he noticed a small group of biter that congregated near the gas pumps and entrance to the gas station.

_How the fuck do I get them away from those damn gas pumps?_

Daryl remembered that noise attracted these things. He searched for some sort of bottle or piece of metal that would make any noise. Nothing.

Daryl suddenly stopped searching. He reached for his belt, and pulled out his handgun. He stared at it. This would make plenty of noise.

Daryl back tracked a little bit, and found an alley way, were there was a ladder attached to the roof of a building. He climbed halfway up the ladder and cocked his gun back. He was well aware that he needed to be quick, and that the gun would attract _a lot of biters._

He fired his gun, and then scrambled up the ladder as fast as he could. He could already hear the moaning and snarling from below. He jumped to the next building, and watched as all of the cannibal freaks made their way to were he had fired the gun. The hunter came to a building with one of those canopy's you'd see at a flower shop over the entrance door.

He shook his head.

_I'll be damned if this actually works…._

He jumped, and landed with an "umph!"

He rolled of then, landing on his side, which hurt like hell, but he was ok. He stood up, and sprinted to the gas station. Not a biter was to be seen. He went to the door of the station, and tried the knob, but it wouldn't budge. He kicked it a few times, and that didn't do any good either.

"Shit!" he cursed. He needed to get out of here before any of those things came back and saw him. As he was running past the gas station pumps, he spotted a tiny stereo, like the ones he saw break dancers carrying down the streets when he was a kid. Kneeling down, he pushed the on button and static came out, loudly. He glanced behind him, and quickly got to unscrewing the back panel with his knife. This thing had batteries, and that's what he needed.

The first screw came out in a matter of seconds, but there were still three more to go.

"Come on…." He seethed.

The second screw came out, and he got to the third one. He could already hear the monsters.

Soon the third screw plinked on the ground, and that's when he heard the snarling behind him grow louder.

"Fuck! Come on!"

The final screw came out, and Daryl ripped the back panel open. Bingo, two small batteries. Hopefully they would work.

A small herd of biters were making their way toward him. He bolted for the back alley way, tripping over a trash can on the way. He flung open a back door to one of the buildings, and shut it behind him. The room was dark, but he was sure that there were no freaks in there with him.

He rubbed his head and his side where he had fallen on. He walked along the walls, feeling his way around, and almost tripped on a staircase.

He climbed the staircase carefully, and at the top, found a door. He pushed it open, to reveal the outside roof.

Looking around, he saw the trailer park that Jimmy was talking about. It was about a block away, and the alleyway behind the building could lead right into the park yard. Only problem was, there were more walkers surrounding the gate.

He searched for another route he could take, but that would involve him in walking on the street, with no cover.

Hit third option, was to jump from rooftop to rooftop, and land in the yard. But Daryl was no Olympian, and that cold end up with him turning into a pancake buffet for the zombies.

"fuckin dickhead….walkers.." he muttered.

He sighed, and decided the only way was to jump from roof to roof.

He untied his ruined shirt from his waist, and stuffed it in his pack. He also reminded himself that he needed to find a clothing shop of some sort before he left.

He took a deep breath, and sprinted to the edge of the building, and then leaping like a gazelle to the other building.

He grabbed hold of the ledge, and pulled himself over the top. He landed on his back, panting and cursing to himself at how stupid this all was.

He got up, and found a door leading down stairs. He seriously needed to find a shirt, because this was ridiculous. If Jess saw him without a shirt when he got back, he'd never hear the end of it.

And not only that…. Daryl rubbed his shoulder. There were scars on his back. Long, ugly, mean looking scars you'd see on a war veteran. Those scars, came from his father, many years ago. And he never told anyone about them. Not even Merle. Hell, if he told Merle about those scars, Merle would probably beat him up for not telling him first of all, and second, Merle would've killed his father. Not that it mattered now, but Daryl didn't want that.

Daryl found his was into a goodwill type of store. Old books and DvD's sat on a table, a jewelry counter that held up a sign that said 50% off all merchandise.

Daryl spotted a men's clothing rack, and searched it. Nothing looked appealing. Everything looked to be to big, or to small, or too…..gay for him.

He was just about to settle on a Hawaiian button up shirt, when he spotted a black leather vest. He examined the front. It was a simple zipper vest, and it was his size. But on the back, there were angel wings, right where his scars were.

He picked it up and sighed.

He also found a dressy looking black button up shirt, which he took his knife and cut the sleeves off. He put it on, and then he put the vest on over it. It felt like….it was made for him.

He ripped the price tags off, and then searched the small store for anything useful. Nothing.

He made his way up the stairs again, and made it to the roof.

After two more incidents of him dying because of the stupid rooftops, he made it to the final building right next to the trailer park. His only challenge was now, to get the gas.

"With these wings I should be able to fly godammit.." he muttered, and then chuckled to himself.

He jumped into the trailer park, ready to find some gas.

**Another note: I didn't know when Daryl get's his vest, so I thought I would add that in there, since that's what we usually see him dressed in. Anyway, I really like how it's going so far, and I can't wait until we actually get into the TV show! okay, I'm done now. Hehe.**


	4. Speed

**sorry about the short chapter... please enjoy**

Chapter 4: Speed

Daryl jumped down from the building into the trailer park, landing on top of a zombie. He stomped it's head with the heel of his boot, it's brains and blood splattering all over the ground.

"son of a bitch…." He grunted.

Daryl hid behind an RV. A lot of fricken biters were around the trailer park. The smell was unbearable. Daryl scanned the yard for any signs of gas, but he didn't see any bright red canisters lying around. Shit. He sighed, and found the gas cap on the side of the RV. He unscrewed it, and took a whiff. Yep, there was some gasoline inside there. Now he needed to get it out of the tank. Or….maybe he could just take the RV…..

He snuck to the drivers window, and jumped a little when he saw a rotting corpse of a man. He was obviously dead. Like dead dead. Daryl looked at the ignition, but the keys were missing. He figured there must've been other people with this poor bastard, but they took the keys.

Looks like the RV was out of the question. No fucking way was he gonna search all those dead fucks for any keys.

Daryl spotted a blue water jug, the size of a gas canister, lying on the ground. He picked it up. This would be perfect to carry gas in.

Now, he needed to find something to poke a hole with. The gas chamber underneath the RV was made of strong metal, so he'd need something hard enough to break a hole in it.

Another problem Daryl faced was the risk of being trapped underneath the vehicle. What if walkers spotted him and tried to get him while he was drilling the hole?

Well, he was willing to take risks. He was willing his whole life. The first time he ate raw squirrel when he got lost when he was younger was a risk, and he was still alive…

Daryl squatted low to the ground, and crossed over to the next RV. He searched the area for any tools of some sort, but no such luck. Suddenly, a growl came from behind him. He turned around to see a fat, walker right behind him. Blood and drool dripping from it's ugly rotting teeth, its stomach bloated and round. And right where its arm was supposed to be, was a screw driver. That would work, but this was gonna be gross….

Daryl grinned evilly.

"come here you fat bastard….looks like you had one to many happy meals…."

The biter snarled even louder, signaling any other walkers around them that the food was here and ready.

Raising his knife, Daryl ran at the fat thing, and lunged for its head, but missed because the fat walker turned the other way.

"Come on, I don't got all day!"

Daryl finally stabbed the fucker in the eye, and he stabbed him again on the to of its head. The biter fell to the ground with a loud thump, and lay there dead.

Daryl knelt down, and sighed. This was disgusting.

He slowly cut the zombies arm nub off, making the rotten stench increase, and it made a squishy sound. Daryl was careful not to get any of its blood on his hands, because he didn't know what would happen to him.

The Screwdriver came out, and Daryl wiped the blood off of it in the grass.

He heard more biters coming towards him, so he needed to be quick about it. He ran over to his selected RV, and crawled underneath. He grunted as a sharp rock jutted into his shoulder blade, but he didn't really care about that right now. He drove the screwdriver into the gas compartment, and soon a small stream of fluid came out. Daryl quickly grabbed the blue canister, and it started to fill up.

"go dammit…go faster…" he said through gritted teeth.

The fluids flow started to slow down, and it eventually stopped. Daryl hoped that Jess found some gas for them, otherwise this might not be enough. The blue canister only held half of what he expected there to be in the RV.

He quickly scrambled from underneath the vehicle, and bolted for the gate. Biters were already staggering after him like lost puppies.

He plunged through the gate, and sprinted along the alley way. He needed to grab Jimmy, and get the hell out of here.

When he made it to the familiar alleyway, he climbed up the ladder, and fond Jimmy with a rifle in his hands, shooting at all the walkers below. There were hundreds.

"We gotta go!" Daryl shouted.

"Did you find any batteries?" Jimmy asked as he grabbed the radio.

Daryl nodded annoyed. Who cares about the god damn batteries right now? They needed to go!

"come on!" Daryl shouted angrily, and then he climbed down the ladder, Jimmy right behind him.

They both ran as fast as they could to the waiting pickup. Jess motioned for them to hurry.

Jimmy started to shoot the walkers as they got closer to the truck, while Daryl filled the car up. As soon as the last drop of gas was inside the tank, he flung the side door of the truck open, Jimmy climbing in after him. And with that, Jess sped away. They were all safe.

Daryl collapsed in his seat, panting. He hadn't run that much since 5th grade, and that was in gym class.

His head hurt, which he figured because of the blistering heat, and lack of water. All he had for drinks was that green bottle of soda. He decided that that was better than nothing. He got it out, and took a swig of it, and then offered it to Jimmy and Jess.

Jimmy fiddled with the radio and the batteries for a little while, and finally got it to work.

"Shh! Everyone listen…" he said.

An announcers voice came on the radio.

…."North Carolina, overu-…Florida, overrun…..Mississippi, overrun…."

"What's that?" Jess asked.

Jimmy sighed. "The places that are infected…"

Jess shook his head. "That's probably everywhere…"

Daryl listen to the rest of the states that were named. California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York…

"Georgia, Partially overrun, refuge in Atlanta…."

Daryl looked sharply at the radio, and sat up. "They say Atlanta is alright? It's not infected?"

Jimmy shrugged, " must be…why?"

Daryl turned to Jess. "If anythang, Merle's probably there.."

Jess pursed his lips. His skin was the color of snow, and he had rings around his eyes.

"maybe."

Daryl studied Jess for a moment.

"Are you all right?"

Jess wrinkled his brow. "I'm fine boy, now pay attention to that damn radio. Could use some of that information."

They all listened for two hour to either static, or id bits of information. But most of the broadcasters they came across only stayed on for a few minutes, and then they signed off. For good.

Daryl's mind raced in thought. How in blazes were they gonna find Merle? He wanted to be with his brother in a time like this. Merle was a tough bastard that could take care of himself sure, but Merle also looked out for Daryl. Though Daryl could look after himself most of the time, he still needed his brother. Daryl had a pretty good idea of where Merle was. Last he heard of him was Fontana, because of his recent arrest for lipping off to an officer.

"We should stop for the night…" Jimmy said after a long static pause from the radio.

"Where? It's not like there's hotels for zombie apocalypses." Daryl said sarcastically.

"Pemberton Camps….a lot of people took refuge there when it broke out. Why don't we try that place?"

Daryl sighed. He was tired, and it's not like they had a choice. Their vehicle was so low on gas, they were running on fumes. Looks like they would need to find a new one soon. Plus, any place without biters was a blessing. So he nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, let's got there for tonight."

**did you like it? please review!**


	5. Overun

Hello! okay so this is one of my favorite chapter so far. I had fun writing it. kinda sad though. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Overun

"Ugh….another cop…." Jess murmured as quietly as he could.

Jimmy gave him a dirty look at the comment.

Daryl glanced at the flashing blue lights. He was exhausted. A long day of beating brains in and running around. And by the looks of the camp grounds, it looked pretty gruesome. Their pickup truck had about had it. They needed to find a new ride because they couldn't stay here for the night. Nor did Daryl really want to.

"I'll handle this. As soon as we score new wheels, we're out."

Jess grimaced and rubbed his swollen arm. He looked absolutely terrible. Like a ghost.

"Yeah I'm on it. I'll whistle if I turn up anythang…" he grunted in pain a little, and bent over slightly.

Daryl cocked his head to the side, a worried look on his face.

"Hey! You alright?"

Jess glanced at him and nodded, waving him off.

"I'm fine…little tired maybe. Been a long day…"

Daryl looked a Jess, studying him. Maybe they should just go on. But this might be the only place to stop. He sighed, hating to leave Jess by himself.

Jimmy sauntered over to them, holding his brown hunting rifle.

"I'm gonna go look for extra gas and ammo if ya don't mind…" Jimmy said, loading his rifle up.

Daryl could care less what the man did, as long as he stayed out of his way.

"Fine. Don't get eaten." Daryl stated with an eye roll.

The hunter gathered up his black back pack, and walked over to the entrance gates of the campgrounds. The cop looked up at him and nodded to him.

"You picked a rough place to stop. Campgrounds a slaughterhouse…." The cop said.

Daryl sighed and gave a sarcastic nod of the head.

"Yah, I here ya. But my trucks done for."

The cop looked behind him hastily, and looked back to Daryl, worry etched on the lines in his face.

"Yeah…I see that. Names Albert Lee, Pemberton police department."

Daryl looked the man up and down. Just a regular old cop, nothing more. Daryl didn't have time to play tea party…he needed to find a car, and fast. They needed to get on the road, and find Merle, and figure out what to do next. Maybe find a doctor for Jess's arm.

"Daryl Dixon, you think you can give us a lift?" the younger Dixon asked.

Albert shook his head, and gestured to his squad car.

" Eh, gotta get them over to Memorial… if it's still open.."

_Great. _

"So can you set me up with one of these?" Daryl asked, looking at all the cars around them. Hell, there's probably enough metal here to make a bomb shelter.

Albert shook his head once again.

"Sorry man, no keys."

_Shit c'mon…._

The cop thought for a moment and held up a finger.

"Tell you what, there was a ranger….Hartwell. He was headed back to his station. Looked like he had some room."

The cop sighed and went to the trunk of his car, and pulled out a long black shotgun.

"Here, take this…..wish I could do more for ya.."

Daryl took the gun, and checked it out. Decent enough he nodded to the officer.

"Thanks."

With that, the cop nodded one last time to him, and climbed in his car. He drove away, with the lights still flashing blue and red.

_Moron…._

Daryl entered the gates of the campgrounds, and immediately, he noticed all the dead bodies and blood around him.

_Good lord…what the hell happened?_

He saw a glowing fire pit a few feet away, and headed towards it. He looked around the surrounding area for anything useful, but there was only empty beer cans and tipped over lawn chairs. He suddenly heard a long, low growl behind him, and he spun around, just in time to stab the eater in the head.

"Getting sneaky are we?" he muttered to himself. Jeez he was starting to talk to himself.

He moved on to the next area, but it was all the same. Eaters everywhere, empty bottles, and lawn chairs and tents. He had killed about 10 biters before he found a post of five signs pointing in different directions. He found the one that was labeled RANGERS STATION.

As Daryl walked along the unmarked path, he thought about a camp ground he had been to when he was fourteen. He was by himself, craving the solace of not being beaten by his father. Merle always told him that if you needed to get away, go to the woods. The woods was your friend, and it would protect you. Merle expressed that the woods was like a mother or father, providing you with food, shelter, and peace. But that particular camping trip didn't turn out so good for little Daryl. No, he ended up getting lost for two and a half days, fending for himself like Rambo or something. But he was kind of thankful for that. He wouldn't be so smart with the surviving on his own if it weren't for the woods. So technically, Merle was right….Again.

As the hunter kept walking, he failed to notice the rotting body of a biter lying in front of him. And he was almost about to trip over it when it stood up, snarling and gnashing its ugly teeth.

Daryl chuckled.

"We are getting sneaky…"

He stepped to the side as the walker reached for him. He landed a blow to the back of the demons head, and kicked its brains until it resembled a pancake.

The younger Dixon whipped his mouth, and shook his head.

He continued walking until he spotted a small cabin, with a garage and an outhouse beside it. Two biters were staggering around the yard, so Daryl quickly went up to the door, and pulled it open.

Daryl turned and looked at the small cabin. A white desk stood behind a counter near the front of the Cabin. He heard static coming from the small radio communicator next to a potted plant. Daryl frowned. Where was the damn ranger?

"Ranger Hartwell! Are you still there? Its Elizabeth! Ranger!"

Daryl just about jumped out of his coveralls. Shit that scared him.

He walked over to the radio, and picked up the mic.

"Hello? I don't see no ranger here lady." He said bluntly.

There was a bit of static before the girl answered him. Her voice sounded scared, and strained at the same time.

"I was just TALKING TO HIM! Who IS this?"

Daryl got a little bit offended by her response. He thought about just leaving, but wanted to see where this was going.

"I'm Daryl, the guy you just scared the crap out of. Where are you?"

The woman sounded panicky when she answered him.

"I'm-I'm at a motel in Pemberton. I was with a-a deputy here but…he's dead. I'm using his radio thingy."

There was a pause.

"…They're right outside my door. Can't you hear them!?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. All that crying was attracting them.

"Keep it together Elizabeth. They can probably hear you."

A long pause before this…..

"No! NOOO! RANGER! COME AND HELP ME! COME HEL ME, PLEASE!"

Daryl was starting to get angry.

"Lady! Elizabeth! There AIN'T no ranger…!"

There was silence. And Daryl sighed.

"Women…" he muttered.

He turned to his left and nearly jumped out of his boots, because standing right to his left, was what was left of what he assumed to be Ranger Hartwell.

The ranger slowly looked up at Daryl, with fiery orange eyes, and lunged at him, snarling and trying to grab his shirt and vest.

"oh no you don't…."

Daryl mustered all his strength, and brought his knife blade straight into the jaw of the ranger, letting the undead bastard fall to the floor.

The hunter sighed and walked around the cabin rooms. If the ranger was here, the keys also had to be here too…

He made his way to the back office. He searched the bookshelf, and desk, and found a set of silver keys on the floor.

"yeah I EARNED these…"

All of the sudden, a crash of broken glass pulled him out of his victory trance. He pulled out they shotgun the cop had given him, and made sure it was full of bullets.

Outside, walkers scratched against the boarded up windows, breaking the glass. Daryl lined up his scope, and took fire on the easy targets. But the noise was gonna attract more walkers soon. He needed to get out of here, and back to the entrance of the camp.

He soon realized that to many walkers were gonna come through the front door. He high tailed to the back of the cabin, and yanked the back door open. Three walkers looked at him, and he bolted for the front yard. The three extra zombies following him, adding to the increasing number of biter on his tail.

_Son of a bitch!_

Daryl spun around, and started to take fire on the crowd of zombies behind him. After he got a couple of good shots in, he turned forward again, and ran, knifing down any biter in the way, or gunning them down.

After what felt like forever, he finally reached the gates, and saw the neon orange vest that Jess wore, right next to the vehicle they were going to take. Jimmy was no where in sight.

"Hey! Jess! Don't worry about wiring it I got some keys."

Jess didn't respond to Daryl. In fact, he was standing awkwardly with his legs spread apart, like he was doing the splits.

"—Jess?"

Daryl waited for him, but when Jess finally turned around…it wasn't Jess anymore.

"….Aw Jess No!"

Jess lunged forward, grabbing Daryl's vest, snapping his mouth, trying to get a piece of Daryl's face.

Daryl sadly drove the knife deep into the side of Jess's head, sending his body tumbling toward the ground.

Daryl looked at the body of Jess sadly, all the good times he had with uncle Jess when he was a kid, hunting and fishing…gone.

Loud snarls brought Daryl out of his mourning, and he opened the car door, and jumped inside.

The walkers piled on top of the hood, trying to get in, but Daryl couldn't see Jimmy anywhere. Daryl sighed, and put the car in gear, speeding out of the camp grounds.

**ohhh man i'm tired. thanks for reading, and drop a review!**


	6. Alone

**Hello, thanks for the reviews. enjoy :3**

Chapter 6: Alone

The roads were just as screwed as Daryl was at this point. Cars and biters littered the paved streets, making it impossible for Daryl to keep going. He had two options. One, turn around, and head in a different direction towards Fontana, which would use up all his gas, and take at least twice as long, or drive in the grass, which would just attract more walkers, but he'd save on time and fuel.

He gripped the vehicles steering wheel, until his knuckles were as white as Jess's face.

_Oh my god…Jess…._

He felt so stupid for leaving Jess behind. He knew that he wasn't feeling well at the time, and should've taken care of it, not that it would have done him much good, but then he would've been by Jess's side, and he wouldn't have had to die alone.

First his father, then Jess, _and_ Jimmy. He shook his head, rubbing it tiredly. Of course, he let three innocent people die on his watch. All in the matter of two days. Way to go Daryl. He made a mental promise to himself that no one else was going to die, that was still alive that is, on his watch.

The grass was bumpy and he winced a couple of times when the off road vehicle bounced him in the wrong way.

He glanced at the rearview mirror, only to make out the staggering bodies of several biters.

The hunter decided to ignore them, and just kept driving. He actually enjoyed the silence for a while. Of course, that was a terrible thing to say at this time, but it was true. Daryl always thought of himself as an independent person, not needing anyone or anything. Well, nothing but a knife maybe.

The car bumped him the wrong way again, and he cursed loudly.

"Damn vehicle…." His face turned a little bit pink, embarrassed by his "manly parts"….

He drove for another ten minutes until he saw the bright orange sign that read "Welcome to the town of Fontana."

What a relief. He was finally here, and he hoped to god that his brother was still here as well…

Daryl drove on the back streets of the town, and parked his vehicle next to an apartment building. He heard car alarms and guns shots ringing around him.

"Place is lousy with eaters….somethin's go them bowed up…"

Daryl checked the magazine on his shotgun before doing anything, and when he was sure it was loaded, he started to make his way down the alley, slowly, just in case one of those grubby freaks decided to get the jump on him.

This place was so loud, no wonder why it was a haven for biters. And whoever was shooting that damn gun was gonna be in a heap of trouble once Daryl figured out who it was…..but right now, he needed to find his stupid brother.

He rounded the corner of the alley, and saw a biter feasting on something or someone. Daryl swiftly and easily went up to it, and stabbed it, throwing it to the ground when he was sure it was dead. He shook his head as he said sorry to the decaying man.

He traveled on through the streets, managing to pick up a water bottle and a pack of cigarettes. He didn't smoke, but hell, he might just start. He encountered many walkers, and almost got bit twice, but he escaped through the skin on his teeth.

Daryl's stomach growled in protest. He hadn't eaten since him and Jess left the cabin two days ago. God he wished for a big juicy steak right now….

And as if god were walking right beside him, he spotted a restaurant across the street. He wondered if there was anything left that wasn't rotting and was still edible.

He waited for the few walkers that stood in front of the restaurant to turn their backs, and he sprinted across the street. He found the back door two the restaurant, and went inside. It was dark, and it took him awhile for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He then held his breath, because there were about a dozen walkers limping around him. He stood very still, and slowly crouched down low.

One eater growled and headed towards his direction, even though it hadn't seen Daryl yet. When it got close to Daryl, he lashed out with his knife, sticking it in its chest. He pulled the demon to the ground, and stabbed it in the head before it could tell its buddies that there was food near by.

The zombies kept walking around, letting Daryl relax a little bit. Truth was, Daryl was a little bit scared to be in there with a dozen walkers, especially in the dark….alone.

Of course, he was telling himself that he was being stupid. He spent countless times alone in the woods, hunting on his own and stuff. Only, now it meant life or death.

Daryl heard more gunshots from outside, and rolled his eyes. Whoever that shooter was, he was going to take care of him. The shooter was putting him in a lot of danger right now.

Another eater caught Daryl's scent, and headed in the hunters direction. Daryl was prepared though, sweep kicking the thing to the ground, and stabbing it.

"Two down, ten more t'go…" he muttered.

For the next ten minutes, Daryl created a small replica of hell, by creating just as much noise as the psycho shooter was. But, he made sure to make noise in different places in the small diner, so that he'd have enough time to kill incoming walkers. Soon the place was empty, and quiet.

He stood up, his knees aching from the crouching position. He was just about to walk over to the kitchen, when he heard a soft moan coming from inside the kitchen. He listened, deciphering whether it was a walker or someone who needed help. He slowly approached the kitchens main entrance, and pushed the door open.

A woman with auburn hair was crouched beside a young man, maybe a few years younger than Daryl. He was moaning and there was a small pool of blood around his leg. Daryl pulled a concerned but cautious look on his face. If this guy was bit, he didn't want to be anywhere near him.

The woman looked up, her green eyes were scary and tough looking.

She stood and brushed off her pants.

"…Thanks…from the both of us…" she said to the hunter. Daryl glanced at the man on the ground.

"He bit?"

The lady looked at the man, and shook her head.

"No, gunshot. Some crazy asshole was sniping at us. I dragged Noah in here, they followed." She glared at Daryl as if he were the one who had shot this "Noah" guy.

Daryl looked at the two of them, and noticed how there was ONLY two of them.

"Who's us? You two?"

The lady shook her head. "Gotta whole team out there, or did. We scavenge supplies for the local survivor camps."

Now this was news to Daryl, there were _Survivor Camps._ One with real people. Food, shelter, medicine…..

"um, yeah? The military supplies some of them with weapons, medicine, food… theres a big camp up At Cherokee hill sawmill. We were doin pretty well until that psycho shooter showed up. Some of us got injured….killed."

The lady's eyes traveled to the floor, sad. But then she seemed to snap out of it, and she looked at Daryl, hard.

"I need to get my people together. One of my runners, Mia is holed up in the theatre across the street. Get her out, and I'll make it worth your while.." the lady pointed at a green bag at her feet.

"See that? Lots of goodies in there hillbilly. Just tell her Scout sent you."

Daryl looked at the bag, and back at Scout.

"I'll think about it."

…

Daryl left the diner with an empty stomach. Now he had to find this Mia chick. And better yet, there is a crazy sniper outside, AND, even more walkers clogging the streets.

He made it to the place where Scout said Mia would be. Across the road stood a run-down theatre. Biters staggered around it, guarding it.

"Son of a bitch…." Daryl cursed under his breath.

He gazed at the building, trying to find a way in. he spotted a hole near the entrance, and took the opportunity to sprint across the street, killing only one walker on the way, and slipping inside the building, without much hassle.

The theatres lobby was loaded with rotting bodies, piled up upon each other like a stack of cards. And the stench could kill.

"Mia?" Daryl shouted, but got no response.

The hunter climbed the stairs to the loft, and saw a young girl sitting on a stool. She immediately jumped up, pointing a revolver at his head.

"whoa whoa…." Daryl said, raising his hands to stop her.

"Get away from me you asshole!" shouted the girl.

Daryl's temper fueled up and fed through his veins. No one called Daryl Dixon an asshole unless he done something to them.

"I ain't the asshole you're worried about!"

The Mia chick looked at him, hatefully.

"Who ARE you then?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this shit. He needed to find Merle.

"I'm a…..different one." He answered.

Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from outside, proving Daryl's point.

He smirked. "See? Not me. Uuh, Scout sent me to come get'cha."

Mia eyed him suspiciously. "you know Scout? She sent you?"

Daryl nodded, annoyed with this girl. "Yeah, she's in the diner across the street."

"Oh thank go, I thought that…every time I stand outside, that shitty shooter tries to kill me. I lost my gear, so I'm pretty much trapped….. the theatres locked down ever since they started loading corpses in here, exits blocked, and there's a whole lot of them down there. Think you can take care of them?"

Daryl walked over to the side rail, and looked down. Several biters walked around growling and snarling. He nodded.

"I'll take care of it. Gotta hurry though, I got to pick up my brother at the police station."

Mia looked at him. "The police station? But that's where the killer is holed up! D'you think your brother is even alive?"

Daryl stuck out his lip and nodded. "Trust me, if there's only one thing that can kill My brother Merle, it's Merle."

Daryl headed over to the latter, and looked through the scope on his shot gun, picking off the ones he could see. When he ran out of bullets, he climbed down the ladder, and landed with a thump, which drew a biters attention.

He walked up to the thing, and killed it with on simple blow to the skull. He continued this for several minutes, until he saw the glowing red exit sign. He pushed the many carts and tables that were in front of the door.

"Come on!" he shouted to Mia, as she climbed down the ladder quickly.

When they both were outside, Mia thanked him, and ran across the street. Daryl would go pick up his prize later. Right now, he was headed toward the police station.

….

I was pretty easy to spot the police station. Because Daryl followed the sound of gunshots. The car alarms were super loud, drawing tons and tons of walkers to them. But that was convenient for Daryl, made it less gruesome. The back door was a different story though. About six eaters were scratching on the closed door, trying to get inside.

Daryl grabbed a lead pipe that was lying on the ground, and threw it at one of them, burying it deep inside of its head. It had actually worked.

But, unfortunately, that attracted the other biters attention. They started to stagger towards the hunter, gnashing their yellow foul teeth, and grabbing at the air with gnarled finger nails.

Daryl took the but of his shot gun, and whacked a zombie in the head with it, and then stomping on it with his boot, until it was a bloody mashy mess.

He did the same thing with the next walker, and then he noticed the door was free now. The last three walkers were still reaching for him, but he was faster. He sprinted to the door, and yanked it open, and then shut it tight. He was alone….again.

The gunshots became louder. He hoped to god his brother was here.

"Merle?!" he yelled.

Nothing.

He ran to the next room, almost smacking head with a zombie. He thought quickly, and punched it in the jaw as hard as he could. He then pulled out his knife and stabbed it.

Oh no, what if the biters got his brother? Was he to late?

He continued searching the lower level, until he found a staircase. He climbed it, and the gunshots kept getting louder and louder.

Realization hit him. What if his brother _was_ the shooter?

When he reached the top of the stairs he took a breath, readying his knife just in case this wasn't his brother. He laid his hand on the metal door handle, when he heard the cocking of a gun on the other side of the door.

"OH NO! SNEAKIN UP ARE WE? NO, NO, NO! YOUR NEVER GONNA TAKE ME BACK THERE!"

Oh shit…

**ho ho ho! I love cliff hangers... please review!**


	7. Brotherhood

**sorry about the short chapter and the wait. I had something come up. here you go.**

Chapter 7: Brotherhood

Daryl couldn't believe it. Well, actually he could, but still. Merle? The crazy psycho shooter? No, his brother wasn't like that…..ok that was an understatement. Yes, Daryl had a hunch his bro was the shooter, and believe it or not, he was glad. He had finally found his brother, and relief flooded through his body. But just as he was about to open the door, he heard a gun being cocked. His eyes widened, and he quickly jumped to the side of the door, right before three bullets pierced through the wood. He grimaced and sighed. His brother was jacked up….again.

"Awww, come on' Merle! It's me!"

A bit of silence passed before his brother answered.

"WHAT'S LOWER THEN IMPERSONATING A MANS LONG LOST BABY BROTHER?! YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO GAIN FALSE ENTRY?! YEAH, THAT'S WHAT'CHA DOIN!"

Daryl rolled his eyes. Yep, his brother was jacked up on something alright.

"Dammit merle, I'm jus gonna leave you here…"

Suddenly, he heard the locks on the doors, being clicked and shifted. Finally.

"Keep your pants on sweetheart, I locked this place up REAL good….."

Then, sunlight poured through the opened door, and a pair of rough hands grabbed Daryl's wrists, and pulled him through the doorway. Hid brother quickly and hastily locked the door again, and turned to the younger Dixon.

Merle fixed Daryl with a stare that was full of jacked up illusions, confusion, and insanity. The hunter had seen this before from his brother, usually when he had done something wrong when they were younger, or Merle would have that look on his face when his father was around them.

Merle looked as red as a tomato, sunburned and delusional. No wonder why he was shooting people randomly.

"Them people locked me up for days in the dark with those abominations!...But lookee who's just a LITTLE too smart for 'em!"

Daryl searched his brothers face and shook his head.

"Bro, you're stir fried from the sun, and the booze, and whatever the hell you've also been into.."

Merle staggered around the rooftop like one of those biters, and placed a hand on his forehead.

" I DO feel a little warm now that you mention it…I sprang myself see? Established my little snipers nest over here….and I commenced on sendin those soliders back. I rang the alarms, callin in the abominations…"

Daryl smacked his forehead in annoyance.

"Man, those aren't soliders down there, those are people. Survivors. Just tryin to help other people out. They don't even know who you are."

Merle glanced below toward the walker infested streets.

"They in uniform ain't they? And they came back to take me to the hole! I ain't goin nowhere but Jake's, and that's where your gonna take me…..come on…"

Merle suddenly looked a little pale, and his eyes rolled up to the sky. He fell just a little, and Daryl was there to help him back up. Daryl sighed.

"Let's go ya ape. Guess I gotta lug your thick ass back to town too. Man, you must be runnin over a hundred and six!"

Merle perked up real fast and turned around.

"MY CHAIR!"

Daryl grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back.

"Yeah, it'll be here when you get back." Daryl muttered with a head shake. He shoved his brother towards the door, and yanked it open.

….

The walk/run across town took forever because of his dumb ass brother, and the countless numbers of biters. But Daryl guided his crazy brother through the back alleyways, dodging any groups of eaters that may have seemed like a threat. But they both made it to the car in one piece.

When they spotted the offroad vehicle, he crammed his brother, who was still a little loopy, in the front seat.

Daryl was relieved to have his big brother back. He was a little scared to tell him about their dad and Jess, but Merle never really liked their father at all. That's why he was gone all the time. And, when he was around, his father just yelled at the older Dixon about how he was a yellowbellied pot sucker who would grow up to be a lowlife son of a bitch. Unfortunately, their father had been right.

Daryl started the engine, and high tailed it out of that town, q few biter following them, but couldn't keep up. The car was silent, no arguing, no swearing, no screaming; silence.

Merle gazed out the window for a long while, watching the trees zoom by.

Daryl knew he had to tell his brother what happened. He wasn't sure that Merle was in the right state of mind to hear about it, but he didn't want to wait either.

"Merle…man, I gotta tell you something. About what happened at the camping trip…"

"My dear little brother, I don't want to here about how you scored the biggest buck out of all of them guys…..speakin of them, where are they?"

Daryl pursed his lips.

"That's the thing….something happened bro.."

"I got it, full bore, flesh eatin apocalypse…"

Daryl gripped the steering wheel a little bit harder and got together his words.

"Yeah. Yeah but, we were up at Jess's camp house when the…when the eaters came down on us. We never even heard anything about these things. They tore us up. Jess and me were the only ones to get out."

More silence. That wasn't a good sign. Daryl didn't want to even glance at his brother.

"Where's the old man?" Merle asked.

"He was up at the camp house too…..he, he didn't make it bro…"

Daryl waited for the punches and swearing and yelling to start, but it never came. He was just about to relax a little when his brother finally blew up.

"He's dead?! The old man's DEAD?! You let the abominations get him?! Did he turn INTO one?! Did you let THAT HAPPEN TOO?!"

Daryl screwed his face up into an angry look, and then sighed. Now was not the time to be picking a fight with his drug infused brother.

"No….I gave him mercy." Daryl quietly stated.

Daryl looked at his brother. The older Dixon was staring out the window. Daryl could see the reflection of his brothers face in the car window. He looked a little bit sad.

"What'd he say?..."

Daryl thought for a moment. What was he supposed to tell Merle?

"What did he say?!" Merle shouted angrily.

Daryl bit his lip. "He said…uh….tell Merle I'm proud of him…"

A moment passed, and Merle sniffed a little.

"Merle?"

Daryl glanced at his brother, who was now looking at him, a sad frown on his sunburned face.

"What did he really say?"

**Please review!**


	8. Hospitals

**HeHe, I love the interaction with Merle and Daryl in this one. Enjoy my fellow Walking Dead lovers!**

Chapter 8: Hospitals

Merle's condition seemed to worsen as the pair traveled on. Merle's sunburn and loopiness worried the younger Dixon. The last thing he needed right now was another death on his hands. Especially if it was his brother. He figured he needed to stock up on medicine anyway.

After stopping for directions from a man with a short white beard and an RV, they made their way to a small town called Celbourne. The man had said there was rumors going around that the Hospital was still functioning, and offering aide to any survivors. That sounded like a load of shit to Daryl, considering all those sick people that might have gone there, but he decided it was worth checking out.

The Celbourne Memorial Hospital looked as run down as Shrek's swamp cabin. And Daryl didn't like the looks of it, but Merle insisted that they stop. They were almost out of food anyway.

"I need….. some methicillin, penicillin, better yet…vancomycin. "

Daryl rolled his eyes. He didn't need to know about any of Merle's "infections".

"no, you stay put. You'd just slow me down right now…."

Merle chuckled a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I think I'm also gonna find you some sunscreen or lotion or something…."

Merle made a face, "boy, I ain't no pussy sissy like you! I don't need no lotion, nuh uh…."

Daryl punched his brother in the shoulder lightly. "I'll get whatever the hell I think you need. Now shut up, and stay here. I'm also gonna try to find some food while I'm at it."

Merle licked his lips.

"A nice juicy steak would be nice Darylena. Think you could make me one? Since you a women and all…."

Daryl flipped Merle off, and adjusted his pack on his back.

"Oy, don't stay out too late honey! You have a curfew!" Merle shouted to him.

Daryl ignored him, and entered through the double doors of the hospital.

….

The hospital was creepy.

There was hardly any light to be provided, so Daryl was basically walking in the darkness. He kept out a sharp eye for any eaters. If what that man with the RV said was true, then there was bound to be a lot of them here. Sick people=death.

Daryl roamed the hallways. There was glass all over the place. Vines grew along the wall like snakes crawling across the ground. Gurney's blocked several areas of the hospital. Probably to keep out the dead. Daryl saw a half eaten body of a young girl lying on the ground. He frowned, astonished that such a young person had to go through something so….inhuman. he felt bad, but continued on.

Daryl slowly walked down the hallway across from the dead girl, and almost freaked out when he heard mumbling coming from the end of the room.

"Ouch…man my leg hurts…."

Daryl stopped dead in his tracks. Was someone here? Alive?

He edged his way along the dark hallway, and came to a white door with several red bloodstains on it. He pushed it opened, and was surprised to see Noah, the boy from the diner back in Fontana.

"She brought you to the hospital after all, huh diner boy."

Noah looked up from his bleeding leg, and stared at Daryl.

"You mean Scout? She's at the morgue, getting medical tools for my leg. She said there were some mean looking military men, so watch out."

Daryl scratched his beard and nodded.

"I need some antibiotics. You have any?"

"uhh…..I have some gauze and tongue depressors. Sorry man."

Daryl nodded.

"I'm gonna keep movin."

Noah nodded too.

"Cool man, be Safe."

Noah held up two fingers in a peace sign.

Daryl narrowed his eyes, and continued to the next section of the hospital, but not without muttering underneath his breath, "if only that were possible…"

As he walked on, not a single biter was to be seen. Either that was good, or that was bad. And Daryl had a hunch that it was going to be bad.

The hunter searched several operating rooms, but no antibiotics. He stole a couple rolls of gauze from one of the rooms, but that was the only useful thing he could find.

Daryl came upon a sign that showed him where to go in the hospital. The morgue was a little ways away it seemed, like at the other end of the hospital. And there was a cafeteria.

Daryl took a right at the next end of the hallway, and headed in the direction of the cafeteria. He tried a lot of door handles, but all of them seemed locked.

He came to a set of double doors, and sighed. Finally. Food.

But, when he pushed open the doors, he was attacked by a flesh eating walker. It lunged at him, and knocked him to the ground, trying to bite at his face.

He thrashed, and kicked at the demon, but it kept all of it's weight on him. He cursed, because he couldn't reach his knife in his back pocket. He punched the walker in the jaw, and pushed it off of him with all his strength. The damned thing got up slowly, and reached out for Daryl, but it didn't get a chance to attack again, because Daryl had stabbed it in the eye.

He was breathing hard after that, but shook it off.

He entered the cafeteria, and let out a triumphant cry of relief. He saw two snack machines, and smiled to himself. He saw Twinkies in there. He loved Twinkies. He'd never admit that to anyone though.

He realized he that he had no money to put in the machine, but he simply fixed his problem by punching the glass, and retrieving the snacks.

His mouth watered a little. He grabbed plenty of Twinkies to satisfy him. He also grabbed various bags of chips, pretzels, and crackers, and a few granola bars too.

Now his next stop was the morgue. He needed to meet up with Scout. Maybe he could get some information out of her about those survivor camps she was talking about. And maybe he could receive his prize for helping out her friend Mia last time.

Daryl walked along the hallways again, trying to locate the morgue, but failing. Maybe if he had some sort of flash light things could be easier….

All of the sudden he heard a crack right beside his head. Not like a skull cracking but, wood cracking. He spun around, and noticed a door with a flimsy board shoved through the handles. He also noticed the sloppy spray paint writing scrawled across the wall next to the door. What it said made Daryl's spine tingle with anticipation.

**DON'T OPEN. DEAD.**

The cracking and creaking noises were coming from the door. He slowly backed away. And that's when Merle decided to call him on his walkie talkie.

"Where the hell are you boy?! I need those meds!"

Daryl was just about to respond, when he saw the wooden plank break. His eyes widened, and he watched as dozens of walkers exited the door. They stood staring at him for a moment, and then started to slowly jog towards Daryl.

"Oh Shit…" he breathed, and he turned on his heel to run.

He ran as fast as he could, occasionally looking back at the huge group of walkers following him. He weaved his way along the empty corridors, trying to cut corners off, but they kept following him closely.

Daryl came to a part of the hospital where it looked so run down, it resembled a jungle basically. It was pitch black, and wires and bodies littered the floors. He felt the floor creaking in protest as he pounded across it.

He watched as some of the bodies came to life, and joined the crowd of the dead chasing him.

He heard a loud metal thump sound come from underneath him, and he suddenly started falling. The floor had given way underneath him.

"OH SHIII-"

He was falling, into a dark, deep abyss of blackness.

**Please review!**


	9. Black

**Hi! is anyone reading this?! I hope so! enjoy!**

Chapter 9: Black

_"Move it Dixon!"_

_His legs hurt like hell. His head was bleeding, and he was in just general pain. A girl was running with him. He couldn't see her face very well, but he could tell she had long reddish brown hair, and piercing green eyes…._

_"Come on Daryl!" he heard her shout._

_He didn't even know why they were running. But he didn't want to find out._

_"No!" she shouted again, as a dark mist engulfed her. She screamed and Daryl didn't know what to do._

_"ANNA! NO!" he found himself yelling, before he was grabbed by the dark mist as well._

_He fought and fought, but became so tired and sleepy. He could just give in right now, but the Girl's screams are what kept him awake. But, no matter how hard he tried, he failed. He closed his eyes…._

He gasped and bolted upright. His head felt like it was bashed in, and his back was in pain, but otherwise, he was alright. He gazed around the dark black room, careful not to draw to much attention, in case there were walkers nearby.

_What happened?_

Then he remembered. There was no black mist. There was no girl…

He had fallen through the floor while being chased by walkers. Yeah, that's it.

He suddenly heard groaning, and cursed over and over in his head. He didn't know where his knife was, and he couldn't see a damn thing. He listened for any signs of feet shuffling towards him, and he grasped the ground around him for any sort of weapon. He felt a fallen piece of tile that must have come from the ceiling when he fell in. he waited for any signs of zombies near him.

A snarl confirmed that it was right in front of him, and before it could react, Daryl stood up as fast as he could, and attacked the walker, sending it tumbling to the ground, it was snarling in protest. Daryl climbed on top of it, and hit it repeatedly in the skull with the tile. He stopped bashing the walkers head for a moment and waited. It made no noises, confirming that it was dead.

Daryl searched the small pile of rubble for his backpack and hunting knife, and then he slowly made his way out of the room, into the hospitals hallway.

He roamed around for a bit, experimenting door handles, and killing more walkers that happened to inhabit any rooms. After awhile he decided to radio his brother.

"Hey Merle? You there?"

A bit of static came through the channel before his brother answered.

"Course I am. For a minute there I thought you bought it."

Daryl grunted. His brother was truly an idiot.

"Someone else is here. I'm gonna try to find em, maybe get help."

"Alright Darylena, don't get lost. I'm not gonna save your ass….again."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Shut it, Ya ape."

After about a half an hour of searching the hallways for antibiotics, and/or people, he decided to take a short break, and take a sip of an energy drink he had stored.

"God, I never thought mountain dew would taste so good" he muttered to himself.

Daryl gazed around him in the dim light. He silently wished for a flashlight, because that would make things so much easier right now.

But, he was a little bit relieved when he spotted the blue sign that read MORGUE. Maybe he could find that girl, Scout, and she could help him find some medicine for Merle.

He placed the green plastic bottle in his pack, and grabbed his knife. He slowly made his way through the dark entrance, and when he made sure no walkers were around, he walked a little faster. He opened another door at the end of the hallway, and saw two walkers feeding on a dead body of a man. He growled, and took the first walker by the scruff of the neck, and stabbing it through the base of its head, and then twisting the knife to the right. He threw the dead walker to the side, and kicked the next walker to the ground. He kept kicking it in the head until it resembled a bloody pancake. He glanced around him, and saw another door leading into the main morgue. He pushed it open, and almost wanted to be sick at the sight.

Dozens of hospital gurneys filled the room. And at least half of them were stacked high with dead bodies. The smell was merely enough to make you throw up, and little tiny flies buzzed around the room.

"Jesus Christ…" Daryl breathed, and he placed his shirt over his nose.

He walked as fast as he could to the set of double doors at the other side of the room. He pushed them open, and was blinded by white light. It hurt his eyes.

A woman with a white lab coat was on the other side of a thin glass window. She was typing on a computer, and taking notes on a pad. She looked up abruptly, and stared at the hinter in shock.

"Who-Who are you?" she inquired.

Daryl gazed at her, and sighed. "Lookin for meds. Antibiotics. Got any you can spare?"

The woman looked tired, like she hadn't gotten any sleep for days. She was just about to answer him when another voice interrupted her.

"MAN SHOOT HER! SHOOT THAT BITCH!" Daryl squinted at the form above him in a small glass room. It was that Noah guy from before….

"What the hell?"

The woman sighed heavily, and turned to her computer, disregarding Daryl.

"These are desperate times. You need meds, and I need a very fresh sample."

Noah spoke up loud and clear.

"DON'T LISTEN TO HER, SHE'S CRAZY MAN!"

Daryl frowned, and snarled at the woman, "Let him go!"

The woman looked up at Noah and then back to Daryl.

"I'm sorry. But we need to get ahead of this disease. One sample will save millions."

The woman placed her head in her hands, and then continued to take more notes.

"What am I doing? There's got to be another way! What if? No, maybe…if we could just…ugh there's no time. I, we need to make this sacrifice. It is no different form taking tissue from a viable donor! Your going to save lots of lives!"

All of the sudden, Merle joined in the conversation, and reminded Daryl why he was here.

"What the hell are you doing boy? I need those meds!"

Daryl glanced at Noah, and back at the radio. He had no time left…He needed to make a decision.

Now. He looked at the door, leading to the upstairs chamber. He sprinted to the door, and yanked it open. He was going to make up for his mistakes the day before.

Save a life.

** Please review!**


	10. Savior

**Hey! why isn't anyone reviewing this? oh well... here you go...**

Chapter 10: Savior

"What? What are you doing?!"

Daryl ran for the metal door that led to the balcony where Noah was being held captive by the doctor and some walkers who looked like they were hungry for flesh. He didn't have much time.

"Stop! You can't interfere!"

Daryl glanced behind him quickly at the woman doctor, giving her a "I don't give a fuck what you say" kind of look, and climbed the stairs with an angry huff. That woman was insane if she was thinking about using an alive human being as a test subject. Just how stupid was this broad?

Daryl reached the top of the steps, and flung the door open, too see Noah trapped in a corner by a bunch of walkers.

"ahhh ohhh my arm.." he complained, and tried to back as far away as he could into the white wall. Daryl noticed a fallen chair beside him, and he picked it up. He smoothly walked over to a female walker, and knocked her upside the head with it. She fell to the ground, and snarled at the Hunter. But the younger Dixon took the heel of his boot, and lodged it in her face. She laid there dead in an instant.

The next two zombies were easy for Daryl. He simply punched both of them until their faces also resembled a bloody pancake. He was used to the killing by now. Though the death part was hard for him to grasp still, he simply thought of it as survival of the fittest, and he was the fittest after all.

Noah looked at him and sighed with relief. He smiled and started toward Daryl.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Phew! I owe you big time, but right now I gotta go find Scout."

Daryl remembered that girl. She owed him a bag full of goodies.

"You do that, where did that bitchy doctor go?"

Noah snorted, "She took off running while you were beating those bastards up!"

Daryl smirked and glanced around his surroundings.

"Good. She knew what was good for her then…" he muttered.

Noah nodded, and then he started to search his pockets. Daryl assumed that he should just leave, but Noah signaled for him to wait, and then he pulled out three small pill bottles.

"Hey, I found these before they caught me….not much." He said.

Daryl took the bottles from Noah, and examined them and then nodded.

"Hmm, these might work actually."

Noah nodded and Daryl returned with a nod.

"Be careful." Noah said, and then he ran out the metal doors the walkers had come through.

Daryl sighed. He felt good. He felt like he had made up for all those deaths he could have prevented. But, he still had that nagging guilt gnawing at his gut. But he also felt like it wasn't his fault either. If people really want to survive this stupid outbreak, they need to become faster and smarter.

Daryl followed the same way Noah was going, but hung a left at the giant hole in the wall. He needed to get out of there, and back to Merle. But first, he needed to get past the groups of walkers that might be roaming around the hospital.

Daryl made it to a hallway, and there were two doors at each end. He crept closer to the one on the left, but drew back when he heard the moaning and scratching at the door. He quietly made his way down the hall to the right, and slowly opened the door just a crack. He spotted several biters staggering around the lobby area. Beyond the group of biters, he spotted the glowing red sign of the EXIT. He figured he could just sneak past them undetected, but it was going to be a challenge.

To make sure he didn't make any loud noises, he slowly opened the door more, but not all the way. Just enough for him to squeeze through. When he was on the other side, he saw the receptionist desk, and he crouched low to the ground, and inched his way over and behind the desk. He peeked over the counter at the zombies, and cursed when he saw that at least two of them were feeding on a body right in front of Exit.

Daryl searched the desk for a bottle or something. He got an idea.

He found a rubber band ball, and threw it to the other direction of the room.

The biters noticed the rubber ball, and immediately started to make their way over to it. The two feeding zombies got up with a moan, and followed the others.

Shit…..it actually worked.

Daryl got up as fast as he could, and sprinted toward the Exit. The walkers behind him noticed his presence, and followed him to the door. He yanked the door open when he made it, and slammed it as fast as he could. Suddenly, he heard loud groans, and banging started as he leaned against the door. He stood there for a few more minutes, until the noises and banging stopped. He sighed with relief.

It was sunny out that afternoon, and he was on the otherside of the hospital. Which meant Merle was on the opposite end. He had a lot of walking to do.

…..

"Yes sir! I cannot wait to see the look on their faces when we get to JAKES."

That's all Merle talked about. JAKES.

"They gonna do right by us?" Daryl inquired.

Merle let out a hearty laugh and then got all serious.

"Sure they will. The Savage Sons motorcycle club is a loving crew."

Daryl had to laugh at that. The name of the club sounded a little bit out of character for the word "Loving."

"Yeah, they sound like it." Daryl then muttered.

Merle scoffed and then pretended to pout in his car seat. He then looked at Daryl and smirked.

"Hey, don't get your pink thong in a twist son…..Shit! do you see that?!" Merle exclaimed, and he pointed to the road up ahead.

Daryl squinted above the steering wheel, and his eyes widened in horror.

"Damn….it's like a walker convention up there…" He breathed.

Merle frantically squirmed in his seat.

"We gotta stop all them fuckers! There're headed towards the club! If they reach it, we'll never make it."

…..

Daryl pulled the vehicle to the alleyway behind a stripclub. He and his brother climbed out of the car and stared at the broken sign of a pink naked woman.

"Whooo eee! I used to love that place! Hey, wanna go inside and uh, see if there are any naked walkers?" Merle asked the younger Dixon.

Daryl cringed and screwed his face up into a grimace. One thing Daryl never ever experienced when he was in his teens was love. He thought it was stupid. He figured that if no one, not even his own mother and father could love him, then why should any girl? He thought he was ugly, and that's why no girls ever talked to him when he was in school. The poor, Ugly hillbilly. That's what he heard the girls mutter when he had passed them in the halls. So, what did Daryl do? He shut himself out. He didn't even show any emotion anymore. Well, he did, but it was mostly anger. And that's why he had such a hard time trusting people. The only person he trusted was his brother.

"Naw bro, we gotta go and take care of these bastards." He replied, and he turned his back on the naked lady sign, not wanting to look at it.

"Ahhh whats the matter? Got a boyfriend back home? "

Daryl gave his brother a death glare, and shoved him. The older Dixon shoved him back, and there they were, fighting like to kids in the alleyway. Daryl threw a couple of good punches, but in the end, was pinned to the ground by Merle.

"Jeez, relax boy, I was only kiddin." He said with a laugh.

Daryl pushed Merle off of him, and got up, brushing himself off.

"Better be. What's the plan here?" he asked.

Merle scratched his chin, and nodded to himself.

"I'll head left and then circle back. You head right and then meet me in the middle. Got your walkie talkie?"

Daryl checked his belt, and then nodded.

"What are we looking for again?" Daryl asked.

Merle rolled his eyes.

"Anything that'll stop the parade of deaders from reachin the bar."

Daryl nodded his head, and then turned on his heel.

"Be carful Darylena!" He heard his brother call out. He ignored him, and turned around the corner of the stripclub, jogging so that he could get ahead of the group of walkers. He took a couple of shortcuts through buildings, and found a pack of bullets, and two water bottles. He crisscrossed through many alleyways, but could not find anything that would stop the dead, until he saw a convenient store, and noticed that his brother was inside, talking on the phone. Daryl Crouched low to the gorund, and listened to what he was saying.

"Are there any towns with folks left in em?" he heard him ask.

Daryl got up, and then opened the back door of the store, and went in, just as Merle was hanging up the phone.

Beside Merle, was a huge stack of fireworks. And his brother was smirking triumphantly at him.

"What you got?" Daryl asked.

"Hey, lookie here! The town was rigged for a firework show!"

Daryl remembered that his grandpa used to take him and Merle to Lemon Hill for the big fourth of July show. He liked seeing the fireworks as a kid, but of course, Merle had to ruin it for him, by accidentally setting a car on fire when he had found a fire work on the ground.

"Finally, something useful in this hole…" Daryl muttered.

"Adapt and overcome little D!" Merle exclaimed.

Daryl suddenly got an idea.

"Load up the church with all these, draw in those walkers and just-"

"BANG GOES THE DYNAMITE!" Merle said with a smile.

Daryl shook his head, and then sighed.

" Yeah, pretty much."

Merle seemed excited by now, and wouldn't stop smiling.

"Let's do it then. Move to it Darylena, I'll guide those walkers in, you take care of the church."

**Please review!**


	11. Boom

**Super long chapter. Enjoy**

Chapter 11: Boom

Daryl stuffed his bag full of fireworks, and bolted out of the store. They only had a few hours of daylight left to pull this off, and if it got to dark, there was a chance that walkers in the surrounding area of the town could also be attracted by the noise and light. Daryl needed to combine speed and smarts into one, and get this task completed.

The church was located at the other end of the town, and Merle said there was some sort of mini maze surrounding the back exit of the cemetery.

Daryl weaved his way through the narrow streets which were littered with amputated body parts, and cars. Blood streaks painted the pavement and glittered in the evening sunlight. Daryl saw a lone woman staggering along the sidewalk. She was dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, a hair curler dangling from what was left of her stringy brown hair. Half of her face was missing, and was replaced with the face muscle underneath, and a dangling eyeball. In a scary weird way, she resembled Daryl's mother, when she was alive, and that made the younger Dixon kind of sad, but also angry. His mother had died in a cigarette situation, where she had one lit, and then fell asleep, and burned down the whole house. And Daryl recalled when he was a child, watching the flames engulf the house like a blanket being wrapped around someone's body, and he remembered the smell of burning wood, and the smoke that nearly chocked him. He had barely made it out alive that day, because no one was home; not even Merle. Daryl hid behind a car, and watched the poor woman walk slowly along. She abruptly stopped half way down the street from Daryl, and slowly and creepily turned her head, and stared at the younger Dixon. Daryl gulped and prepared to attack, but the walker averted its attention to the road ahead, and continued walking.

Daryl watched her go, and sighed.

"This is stupid…." He muttered.

The hunter kept moving on, dodging hungry walkers, and horseflies, until he reached the miniature maze outside of the graveyard. He went inside, and followed the pathway within the maze. Tiny statues and murals of the Virgin Mary, and Baby Jesus decorated the maze's walls. And it was all very beautiful, except Daryl wasn't a Christian man. In fact, he thought it was a waste of time to be spending your life worshipping some great being that may not exist. Still, he saluted a painted mural of The Holy son, and whispered "I hope you know what your doin up there…"

Suddenly, he heard shuffling. Like, the shuffling of feet. Daryl quickly ducked behind a statue, and got his knife ready. He waited, until finally, an old looking priest came into view.

And he was dead.

The old priest snarled and growled loudly. It sounded sad, like it was asking the great being known as god to forgive him of his sins, even though he was already dead. Daryl didn't know if it was okay to kill a priest at a church, even if he was already dead. Then again, Daryl figured that he would be putting the poor guy out of his misery. Hell, anything is better then becoming one of those flesh eating shitheads.

Daryl let the priest pass, and then he sprang into action. With a loud sigh, he grabbed the priest by the neck, and quickly shoved the blade deep in his head. Daryl then let go of the dead body, and it dropped to the ground. Daryl wasn't much for praying, but he sent a silent eulogy to the dead priest up in heaven or whatever Christians believed in.

Daryl then moved on, until he reached the end of the maze. He watched the walkers that sluggishly walked around the gravestones, some even running into them, because they were that stupid. The walkers didn't acknowledge each others presence, unless you were dead dead, or alive. But they basically ignored each other. Even while they were feeding, they didn't even snarl at one another. It was weird.

Daryl darted behind the nearest headstone. He peeked around the otherside to examine how he was going to get inside the church to light the fireworks. He spotted a small cement mausoleum underneath a ladder that led to an window of the church. That's how he was going to get in.

He looked both ways before crossing to the next headstone, and passed three walkers in the process. They all noticed him, and immediately started advancing towards him.

"Oh shit…." Daryl breathed, and he started sprinting to the mausoleum as fast as he could. The three snarling walkers reached out to him, snapping their jaws, or what was left of them anyway, hungry for flesh. But Daryl wasn't gonna let any zombie eat him. No, that's not how he was gonna die.

Daryl leaped to the stone wall of the grave house, and used all his strength to pull his body up and onto the roof. He felt a walker grab his boot, but he kicked the biter in the face as hard as he could two times, and it fell to the ground. The hunter let out a tiny laugh and breathed in relief. He then turned around, and climbed the rusty ladder to the window. It was sealed shut, but that was no problem for the hunter. He simply broke it with his fist, and pulled himself through the hole he had made.

He was on a small ledge above the rows of pews. He could see everything in the church. And there were no walkers here. He admired at how churches managed to look so beautiful, even in the worst of times. And it was sort of peaceful in there. He almost wanted to not light the fireworks, but decided that he probably should, unless he would want a bloody nose, courtesy of Merle.

"I'm in the church." Daryl phoned in on his walkie talkie.

A few seconds past, and then Merle's panting came through. He caught his breath and then spoke, "you gotta position the ordinance properly, or its all just gonna fizzle out. You got me?"

Daryl let out a small chuckle.

"Heh, no kidding."

Daryl suddenly ran into something, and he looked up. And he wished he hadn't. A dead bosy was hanging form the ceiling. In a church.

"Jesus Chirst,…..oh, yeah. Forgot."

He bowed a little to the dead man, and then continued his mission. He set a bundle of fireworks right underneath the hanging man. He then put one in the back row of the pews. And then one at the far right corner of the church. He put the last two bundles in the storage room, and one right below the ladder to the attic.

"Where's that church bell?" he muttered to himself. And he figured it was in the attic.

He climbed the ladder, and realized it was super hot up there. But he needed to complete his mission.

"All right, here we go."

The church's bell was huge. And hopefully it would be loud enough to attract the herd of walkers in the town. Daryl took a deep breath, and pulled the bell's rope.

Daryl then lit a flare, and gasped when it burned hit hand. He cursed loudly, and then threw it and threw it down below. The pain spread across his had, the skin turning a bright white. Daryl cursed again, and quickly darted for the window. He heard his brother on the walkie talkie.

"WAKE UP THERE'RE POURIN IN NOW."

Daryl hopped to the back window which also had a ladder attached to it, and gazed below at the large group of walkers in the graveyard. He was going to have to be fast. The younger Dixon took a deep breath, and climbed out the window.

"Not bad little bro, but you better get back to the truck!" Merle shouted into the walkie talkie.

Daryl rolled his eyes, and jumped form the ladder. He immediately bolted, taking a piece of pipe from the ground, and knocking the nearest zombie upside the head real hard with it. He let out a satisfied grunt when it fell to the ground.

Daryl was just about to keep running when a huge explosion erupted behind him, and he felt a blast of heat overcome him. He watched the walkers flock to the light and noise, and smirked. He took his chance to sprint across the graveyard, only having to kill one dumb walker with the pipe. He exited the church grounds.

His hand was tingling. And it didn't help that he was grasping a metal pipe in his hand either. On top of that, it was over 90 degrees. And on top of that, the sun was starting to set. He needed to keep moving no matter what.

He cut across the alleyways and shops, encountering only a few walkers. But he finally made it to the car, where Merle was waiting for him.

…..

The ride to JACKS was only five minutes away. And Daryl could tell his older brother was excited.

"Oh boy, you won't believe what I've got for you at the bar little D. I think your going to like it…..hey, what's wrong with your hand?"

Daryl glanced at his pulsating hand, and shrugged.

"it's nothing."

Merle let out a pfft noise and shot a look at Daryl.

"Did you have a jacking off accident? Or were you bit? Or…oh! I know! You were jacking off a zombie, and then it bit you cause you don't know what the fuck your doin…or-"

"Just shut the fuck up Merle. It's a plain old burn I got form lighting a flare."

Merle laughed. "I know, I was just messin with ya."

Daryl rolled his eyes. His brother always had to come up with some embarrassing idea. Sometimes, Daryl just wanted to punch his brother in the face and in the balls.

"Yes sir, I've been looking forward to this day every day for the last month."

Daryl kept his eyes glued to the road and nodded, "So what's this surprise?" he asked.

Merle hawked up a lougie, and spit it out the window.

"What? Oh right, wouldn't be a surprise if I told ya right?"

Daryl shrugged.

"Its gonna be nuthin if I have ta pull over." He countered.

Merle shrugged too.

"Alright, alright. Just tryin to do something nice that's all."

Daryl nodded. "Alright, I'm pullin over."

Merle laughed. "I kept something real nice of yours. Its back at the bar with my hawg."

"What for?" Daryl asked.

"Same reason I kept this wrist band mama gave me, I suppose."

Daryl immediately got a twinge of jealousy. His brother had a wrist band from his mother? And he didn't get one? He suddenly felt a little bit hurt, but didn't dare show it in front of Merle. If his brother found out about his feelings, he'd never hear the end of it.

When they got to Barksdale, Merle jumped out of the car, and confronted Daryl with a very stern command.

"Stay here." He ordered.

"What?!" Daryl asked, confused.

But Merle didn't offer an explanation. He simply just walked away. Daryl watched him round the corner, and the quickly grabbed his shotgun, and ran after him. But he kept a safe distance away from him also. Just what the hell was his older brother thinking?! And why wasn't he allowed to come along? Daryl was sick of being treated like he was still a kid. And that's how Merle saw him as all the time. It was frustrating.

Daryl passed a fried chicken diner, and a furnishing store. No walkers. And it was creeping him out. Daryl had lost track of Merle, and figured he'd be at the bar.

Daryl's hand throbbed every time he touched something. It really hurt like a mother fucker. He needed to find some sort of salve to put on it. Maybe they had a first aid kit at the bar.

The younger Dixon found his way to the bar. He was just about to open the wooden double doors, when he heard grunting, and gunshots form inside. Daryl immediately shove open the door.

"Merle?!" He called as he came into the smoky bar.

"What the hell?!" Daryl yelled in confusion, when he saw Merle behind the bar, a gun pointed at some shady looking guy's head.

"Don't kill me brutha!" the man pleaded. He looked scared, his eyes wide as gold balls. Around the bar, other men were lying on the ground, a small red bullet hole right in each of their heads.

"I ain't your brother." Merle said menacingly.

"It wasn't my idea to sell you out! I swear it!" The man said, a scared tone to his voice.

Merle chuckled darkly, which wasn't a good sign.

"Oh I believe you Ash, your too chicken-shit to cross me. Now why don't you tell me where the rest of the clubs at."

The man noticed Daryl standing there, and glanced at him. Then he looked right back at Merle.

"Out man! Looking for stuff…."

Daryl suddenly notice a plastic bag sitting on the bar counter. Inside were small orange and blue bottle of…

"DAMMIT MERLE! THIS WHOLE TRIP WAS JUST FOR YOUR STASH?!"

Merle glanced at the younger Dixon.

"Quit your bellyaching son, your givin me a headache."

Daryl got very mad, and was at his boiling point.

"Jess was right about you! You selfish son of a bitch!"

Merle smiled at the younger Dixon.

"Awww! Don't be that way. Look! I kept your crossbow."

Daryl looked at the black crossbow lying in the ground. Daryl's eyes widened when he saw it. That was what he used to kill the big buck last year…..

Daryl shook his head. Right, he was supposed to be pissed right now.

"Man, you just don't get it do you?!"

Suddenly, a man in the shadows pointed a gun right at Merle, and the man Merle was threatening spoke up.

"uh, oh. Merle!"

Merle looked at the shadowed man, and fire a bullet at him. He jumped the counter and took off after the man.

The other man, bolted out of the bar screaming "Hey! Merle's here!"

Daryl was confused. And right when he was about to turn around, he felt a sharp pain to the back off his head, that sent him tumbling to the ground.

His vision was swimmy, and he heard a man speak.

"Go on! Grab all this shit, and go before Merle can ride."

Daryl tried and failed to get up.

He was out cold.

**Extra long chapter! sorry for the wait...been busy with softball and the last few days of school. I had to cut out the whole search for the fireworks thing, so sorry, but I want to end this chapter on a good note. Please review, and I will be gone for the next five days, but I will post as soon as I get back I promise!**


	12. Anna

**Hey! I'm back! enjoy this chapter! this is gonna be a good one I promise.**

Chapter 12: Anna

_"This way!"_

_His eyes stung when he exited the dark place he was in. the light was so bright, but was very pretty. And when his vision became less swimmy, he saw tall apple trees surrounding a dirt road. He remembered that when he was young, his grandfather owned an apple orchard, and he and his brother would go and pick apples whenever their dad got to drunk or abusive. Daryl loved his grandpa, but he passed away when Daryl turned 10. Right on the hunter's birthday._

_"Faster!"_

_Daryl ran. He didn't know why, or who was telling him to run, but it sounded like a girl. And she sounded scared. He searched around him, but saw no girl. And it looked like nothing was wrong to him, everything looked peaceful and quiet, and beautiful. He stopped running._

_A scream pierced the air, and he realized, it was his own. Something was pulling him down. Deep into the ground. He couldn't breathe….._

_…_

Daryl bolted upright, and quickly go to his feet. He was breathing hard, and he frantically looked around him. He sighed in relief when he noticed he was back at the bar

_Right. Merle's in trouble…again…._

The back of his head hurt like hell, and when he searched around for his blade, he couldn't find it. His backpack was gone too.

"They took everything?!" he muttered to himself angrily.

He kicked one of the bar stools, and it fell over. He was about to smash a mirror behind the bar too, but suddenly he heard snarling and scratching at the bar's doors. He stopped. He was gonna make too much noise. He took a deep breath, and searched the bar. He needed to find some sort of weapon, and get out of here. Knowing Merle, he'd gotten himself in some deep heavy shit with this bar gang. And Daryl wasn't so worried about Merle. The only person who could kill Merle, was Merle. He was more worried about the bar gang. There was enough death everywhere, and killing those bar guys would just create more walkers for him to kill.

As Daryl looked around the floor, he spotted a black object underneath one of the dead guy's Merle had killed. He recognized it almost immediately when he saw the bright orange and red arrows.

"I can't fucking believe it…." He breathed.

A black crossbow was lying there. His crossbow.

Daryl picked it up and examined it. Those were his arrows too. It didn't look like it had any damage to it either. He ran his calloused hand across the bow string, and smiled to himself. Finally, he had his baby back.

All of the sudden, the man that was lying on top of his bow, sprang up and toppled onto him. He snarled at Daryl, smacking it's foul mouth at him. But Daryl loaded up his cross bow fast, and shot him in the face. He pushed the now dead man off to the side, and shook his head.

Now, he was gonna go kick some ass.

Right then, the doors burst in to splinters. A walker burst through and came running at Daryl.

"Not today buddy."

Daryl pulled the trigger, and watched the arrow pierce the walkers skull with a disgusting sound.

That was his way out. He burst through the broken doorway, and ran as fast as he could, so that the rest of the flesh eaters didn't notice him. Only two followed him. He easily took down those walkers to. He retrieved his arrows, and ran to the nearest alleyway.

Just as he was contemplating what he should do next, gunshots sounded to his left. And it was simple. Follow the gunshots and screaming. He hoped to god that Merle wasn't one of those screaming men. But then again, he knew Merle could take care of himself.

Daryl cut through a convenient store, and avoided the zombie that was standing in the second aisle. He didn't have time for those stupid mindless things.

When he exited through the back door, he noticed the large blood smear next to him. And a freshly killed body of one of the biker gang members was slumped against the wall, one of his eyes blown to pieces. He quickly passed through.

Then he came to a back parking lot. He saw another fresh body, with a walker feeding off it. He grimaced. Those things were disgusting as fuck. Ducked behind a car, and took aim, and fired. Direct hit.

The hunter noticed the open car garage to his left. He could see about a dozen walkers in there, wearing mechanic suits. He decided it was probably best to avoid this bunch if he wanted to get to his brother before it was too late.

He snuck inside the next building undetected, and almost ran into another walker. It gazed at him for a few minutes, with bloodshot eyes. It did nothing. Daryl stared at it too. It wasn't attacking him….

The walker walked right by, with a snarl.

"What the…..fuck…"the hunter simply muttered to himself. He shook his head. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder.

More gunshots rang out, and Daryl sprinted as fast as he could.

….

This was taking forever.

He could not find his brother, or the gang anywhere, and that was not a good sign. For the millionth time that day, Daryl exited the office building he had cut through. He sighed, and rubbed his head. Sweat trickled down his neck, and he was thirsty. He needed to find water, or something to hydrate himself soon, or he would end up one of those stupid walker things.

Loud snarling pierced the air, and he looked up at a horde of zombies attacking a brown van. He looked up to see a young woman on the roof. And he recognized her immediately. She owed him a bag of supplies. But right now, she looked like she was in trouble, and she was bad mouthing the zombies that were attacking the van below her.

"Come on you son of a bitches! Come at me! Haha you can't get me!" she said, with a scared smirk on her lips.

Daryl sighed. He might as well because he really needed that bag of stuff.

Daryl ducked behind the nearest car. He took out all six zombies within a short time period.

The girl…Scout, looked amazed and shocked, and looked around. She finally noticed Daryl and laughed. She sat on the roof all casually, and arm slung across her leg, her green eyes lit up as he came closer to her.

"Saved your ass at the diner….Do I look like your bitch?" he said as he came closer to her.

She gave a little chuckle, and hopped of the roof onto the hood of the van.

"Ha! Not in that outfit." She said with a short smile.

Daryl took a moment to realize what she just said.

"What? Oh hell no…." he turned away, already regretting him helping this chick.

"Wait! C'mon! I was only teasing…" she said urgently.

She jumped down from the hood, and placed her scratched hands on her hips, her eyes were so green, it reminded Daryl of a lime.

"Where's that bag you promised me at the diner?" he asked, an angry edge to his tone.

She laughed. Wow, she was so bubbly…

"Ha, we haven't even gone on the first date yet."

Daryl looked at her. No girl, has ever said anything like that to him. Even if she was teasing him….

"What?"

She rolled those green eyes of hers again and looked at him.

"Give a girl a ride, and we'll talk."

Daryl was about to say a violent "Fuck you", but he stopped himself. He needed that bag of supplies….and maybe she could help him find Merle too. He nodded, and sighed to himself.

"Let's go then, before I change my mind."

….

The two survivors had searched that town up and down for Merle, but him nor the biker gang was to be found. And that's when Scout spoke up.

"It's getting late hillbilly….we should high tail it before it get's dark."

Daryl nodded. She was right, but he shot her an angry glare when she called him hillbilly. He was one, but he liked it. And she made it sound like it was a bad thing.

They found the vehicle Daryl had been using, and they took off.

The sun was a vibrant orange against the Georgia night sky. It reminded him of a giant fire spreading across the vast forest. A few minutes passed when Scout started talking.

"You don't say much do you?" she asked.

Daryl gripped the steering wheel. If this girl was here to talk his ear off, he was going to throw her out of the moving vehicle.

"Nope."

She nodded.

"I'm Anna….Anna Turner. But all my friends call me Scout."

Daryl froze, and almost lost the grip of the steering wheel.

_Anna?_

He swallowed hard, and blinked a few times. He got a hold of himself.

She continued talking, oblivious to Daryl's actions.

"Look, about leaving the diner? I had to get my friend to a hospital…..if you got people depending on you, you need to push on."

She sighed and looked out the window. It was silent for a few moments, and then she spoke again.

"My dad's a sheriff, so I was helping with what I could. Scrounging for supplies, helping people."

She stopped talking, and pursed her lips. She looked away from Daryl. This made Daryl a bit guilty. She was just helping people, and had them depending on her. He had to give her credit, she was tough. He sighed.

"So…what happened?"

She looked almost surprised by him talking, and she continued on with her story.

"He made me promise to get to the evacuation at Palmetto Estates. Said he was pulling his deputies and meeting me there."

Actually, Daryl was impressed. That was a pretty good plan.

"Best plan I've heard all week."

She gave him a small smile.

"What's your name again? I don't want to have to call you hillbilly all the time."

Daryl smirked and glanced at Anna. She was looking at him with those eyes again. She looked tired, but underneath that, she looked…

Innocent.

And Daryl looked back at the road.

"Daryl Dixon."

**please please review!**


	13. Serum

**so, i'm wondering if anyone is actually reading this crap. If theres anyone out there, please leave your opinions! I want to know if i'm doing anything wrong or if I should even continue writing this.**

Chapter 13: Serum

Daryl drove well into the night, not wanting to stop in the open road area. Anna had fallen asleep and was resting her head on the window. Despite the fact that the younger Dixon's eyes were heavy, he kept on driving.

Daryl was lost in thought. He was worried about his older brother out there with those dead freaks and the biker gang. He also wanted to know more about this Anna girl, and, he was wondering when the next town would come up, because he was getting low and gasoline again, and the car was starting to make a funny clinking sound.

Merle was a tough man, no doubt about it. The only person that could kill Merle, was Merle. But, you couldn't be too careful nowadays, because the dead was walking, and if they got you, you were done. And Daryl didn't like that his brother took off like that without him. Not that Daryl couldn't take care of himself, but he needed his brother. Daryl gripped the steering wheel hard, anger filling his veins. He took a deep breath, and calmed down a little. Anna stirred next to him. It looked like she was having a good dream.

Anna. Daryl almost had a frickin heart attack when he found out who she really was. He also knew that she was the girl from his dreams. He just had a feeling in his gut. But what did those dreams mean? Why was this girl so damn important? Maybe it was just coincidence. He decided that it was. As soon as he got her to Palmetto Estates, she was gone for good.

Suddenly, a sputtering sound alerted Daryl that the car had had it.

"Son of a bitch!" he cursed as it stalled in the middle of the road. He banged the palm of his hand on the dashboard, hoping to make it come back to life, but it didn't work. He sighed, and rubbed his forehead. No other cars were to be seen around the road, so that meant that they had to walk to the nearest town, and look for a new car.

"Anna….." he said and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her lightly.

"mmmm…" she murmured, still asleep.

Daryl looked at her, and shook his head.

"Anna!" he shouted and violently shook her awake.

"What!" she exclaimed, and sat upright fast.

Daryl smirked, and climbed out of the car.

"Cars broke down, I'm gonna have a look, but we might have to foot it to the next town." He said, and made his way to the front of the car.

Daryl opened the hood of the car, and smoke billowed out from the engine. He coughed, and swiped the smoke away so he could have a better look.

"I can't see a damn thing" he muttered.

Suddenly, a bright light shown in the inside of the car. He looked up to see Anna examining the engine, her face close to it. She glanced beneath the car and shook her head. She examined the engine once more, and then turned to Daryl.

"The cooling system has an internal leak, and that's why there's a puddle underneath the car. The engine Needs new mountings because they are all cracked, and the camshaft is snapped off. We don't have any tools or time to fix that shit, so yeah. What do you wanna do?"

Daryl stared at Anna.

"You must know a lot about cars don't you?" He asked.

She smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, actually. I was a mechanic."

Daryl nodded. Still dumbfounded.

"I think we should hike it to the nearest town, find a new ride, maybe get some stuff, and get you to Pemberton." He said, checking their surroundings for any walkers.

"Good idea. I'm getting low on my supplies too."

Daryl and Anna gathered their things and abandoned the car. Daryl kept his crossbow ready and loaded just in case any walkers decided to fuck with them. Anna walked beside him, quiet.

Daryl looked away, felling a bit awkward. He didn't really like talking to the opposite gender, since all it had ever done for him was create trouble for him. But he figured he should at least say something.

"So…..You were um, a mechanic?" He asked in a quiet tone.

She looked at him and then kicked a stone along the road.

"Yeah…I worked with my brother in a grease shop."

Daryl nodded, and kept on walking, not saying another word.

"What did you do before all this shit happened?" She suddenly asked him.

"Nothing." He quickly replied.

She nodded and turned away when something started to make a crackling noise. She pulled out a black walkie talkie and it started talking.

"Scout, come in Scout."

Her eyes widened. "Daddy! I'm here! Where are you?"

"Hey kiddo, I'm-" All of the sudden, there was a fit of coughing, and then her father started to talk again.

"I'm on my way to Palmetto to see you. Are you safe?"

She paused and looked at Daryl, and then answered him.

"Dad, are you okay?"

Another pause.

"Scout, everything is going to be just fine. You be very careful, and I'll see you at the evac point."

"Alright dad, I love you."

"Yeah I love you too hone-" Another Coughing fit presumed, and the transmission ended. Anna pulled a very worried look, and then put the walkie talkie back in her pocket.

"He'll be fine…" Daryl said, looking her in her green hopeful eyes. He even had to admit, he wasn't sure if that was the truth, he even sounded unconvinced by his own words.

She smiled, but it soon faded, and she turned her gaze back to the ground.

"He will be." She said, with a determined tone in her voice.

Soon, the sun started to come up over the horizon, and they came to a tiny valley. Below the hill that they stood on, they saw the town of Danvers.

"There's a group in that town. I don't know if they are still here but, we can be hopeful that if they are, they can help us." Suggested Anna.

Daryl gave a curt nod.

"Let's go then."

…..

The pair traveled to the town, and stopped on the outskirts of it to examine something unusual.

"Hm, fresh tire tracks…." He said.

"Dammit…." Anna muttered, and she knelt down to take a closer look.

Daryl looked around. Empty bags and cans littered the ground. A few dead bodies also lay here and there, and they were fresh. The group must have been attacked.

"Just take it easy hillbilly, god knows what's in there….."

Daryl shot her a glare, and she suppressed a smile. Daryl shook his head, but all he could think was-

_She has a nice smile._

"And Daryl, Danvers is known for trying to find serum to solve all this shit. See if you can find out anything about it."

Daryl nodded. "What are you gonna do?"

She shrugged and looked around the place.

"Maybe find some supplies, if there are any. And I'll try to find a vehicle."

Daryl nodded again. "Good."

…

Daryl entered the city, and saw what Anna was talking about. A large laboratory building named ClaraChem stood in the middle of the town. He figured that was his best bet of finding the serum.

…

The inside of the building was absolutely huge. IT was 27 stories high, with a lot of rooms. The serum was mostly likely to be on one of those floors. Which also meant, Daryl had a lot of searching to do, with only a little bit of time. They needed to get to Palmetto estates.

**Please review**


	14. Epiphany

Chapter 14: Epiphany

His feet echoed along the dark and empty corridor. That's all there was. No sound. Usually, places like this would be packed with people running around, trying to get things done. But, that life, was long gone. He knew it had already been two weeks since the outbreak, but realization was finally dawning upon him. The life Daryl once knew, the one where he could roam about, and not give a shit about anything, was gone. What he would give right now for a beer, or some whiskey, or any type of alcohol to cool down his senses, and let him just drift off into his happy land of drunken blankness.

Daryl's instinct was telling him, that if he were making a serum, in a 27 story building, he just might be on the top floor, away from the walkers and any threats. Even as he climbed the metal stairs stained with black blood, he had hope. And he kept repeating in his head that there was a serum that would end all this shit, and then he could go back to his normal lifestyle.

He had to take a short break after he climbed to the 15th floor. His legs ached from climbing so many stairs, and he had to keel over to catch his breath. He placed his hands on his knees, and closed his eyes. And that's when he saw Anna's face.

His eyes flashed open. And before he could question himself, his breath got caught in his throat.

In front of him, hung at least a dozen bodies from the ceiling. All rotting, but none were walkers, because each one had at least one bullet hole in their head. He stared in shock at all the dangling corpse's. This was both disgusting and sad. Several women and children were also hanging from the ceiling as well. This was like Genocide. He gently maneuvered his way past the bodies, shaking his head in disbelief. All these people gave up to early. It was sad, and also sickening.

Daryl located the next flight of stairs, and followed the ongoing trail of dark blood along the steps. When he got to the first landing, he saw several bodies piled in the corner. He cautiously made his way past, and sighed when they looked like they were all dead for sure. Continuing on, his thoughts eventually turned to his brother. He wished that he had a giant club so that he could pound nails into his brothers thick skull. His brother would've surely have had some sort of plan that wouldn't have taken this long. And he defiantly wouldn't have let Anna come along with them. Though, Daryl was having second thoughts about her. She seemed to have her head in the right place. And that's something you don't see too much of nowadays. Everyone's scared, defeated. And some give up. But no, not her. She's tough. But not as tough as him. Her plan to get to Palmetto Estates seemed easy enough, and she was determined.

Daryl quickened his pace as he climbed the stairs.

….

The 27th floor was dark. Darker then what Daryl has seen in his lifetime. Or, at least that's what it felt like. But that didn't matter. What mattered right now was finding that damn serum, getting the hell out of this place, and continuing onward. He entered a room that led to a long corridor, and that's where he saw two walkers feeding on two fresh bodies. The walker on the left was feeding on some poor woman who was still half alive. She was whimpering as the zombie tore into her innards, smacking its lips in delight. Daryl winced, and shot two arrows, clean through each walkers head. The woman looked up at him with sad, pleading eyes.

"Please….." she croaked, glistening tears rolling down her blood stained cheeks.

Daryl stared at her, and raised his crossbow. He shot the arrow right through her skull, ending her misery.

"I'm sorry." He murmured. He casted his eyes away from the woman's face, and he extracted the arrow.

Daryl wondered why there were no zombies on all the other floors, and he had a hunch why. He rounded the long corridor, and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. Immediately he knew why the Archer creek group hadn't been there to greet them when they had gotten here. Because, several bodies had been slaughtered, and picked clean. Some were only half eaten, and looked as if they had been a fresh kill. Daryl grabbed his radio.

"Looks like I found the Archer creek group. Well, what's left of them anyway…." He muttered quietly.

Anna radioed in a few seconds later.

"Sounds bad…."

Daryl shook his head.

"Lord have mercy." He whispered to himself.

He hung a left, and killed a couple more walkers on the way. When he came to a fork in the hallway, he went left again, and came to a receptionist desk, with a male and female locker room on each side. He chose the male locker room door, and went inside. Then he came to several automatic glass doors, which released a burst of steam when he walked through. After that, came a glass corridor that showed several tiny lab rooms. He almost shit himself when he heard faint tapping on the glass. He squinted, and could see a young woman with dark hair and a scarf around her head looking at him.

"Ay lady?" he asked.

She nodded and came closer so he could hear her.

"I'm Sheila….head of the archer creek dam. This place is dead, except for auto security."

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, that's why I had to climb a bunch of stairs."

Sheila chuckled darkly. "Yeah it's real cute. Locked gates, cut power. Damn thing locked me in here. Haven't seen my team…"

Daryl bit his lip and decided to put it straight and to the point.

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Didn't make it. What about this serum I hear about?"

Sheila's face fell into disappointment, and she shook her head. With a sigh, she sadly looked Daryl in the eye.

"…..Their research results were, 'no cure, no serum.' They never found it. Lot of people died for a fucking fairytale…"

Daryl stayed quiet for a moment. All this way….for nothing? He suddenly gritted his teeth and pounded his fist on the glass. He was angry at the woman, at Anna, at Merle, at himself…yet, he knew it was no one's fault. He figured that if they had found a serum by now, a lot more people would still be alive…..but, one could only hope right?

"Son of a bitch…." He finally sighed, and looked at the woman with hard eyes. He was just about to leave the woman there too, but she stopped him.

"Look, can you get me out?"

Daryl thought for a moment, and then he got an idea.

"Scout, buildings on auto security. Find anything that looks like a main override panel or something up there?"

Crackling ensued, and then Anna's voice came on the line.

"Maybe, but-"

"hit it."

"I'm not sur-"

"HIT IT!"

"….your wish."

Silence and then a painful ringing started going off. The security had been opened back up, and the alarm was going off.

"HAZARD DETECTED. LOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS" blared the intercom.

Sheila's eyes were as round as golf balls.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

More blaring sirens were heard from all over the building, and Daryl didn't know what the hell to do.

"GET TOPSIDE! I'LL MEET YOU ON YOUR WAY OUT GO! GO!" she motioned with her hands, and then she ran off into the darkness of the room.

Daryl suddenly heard groaning and scratching and he had a twinge of panic in his gut.

"Augh! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!" he shouted into the radio.

He got his crossbow ready to go, and then he spotted the first couple of walkers headed towards his direction.

"I'm trying! I'm not sure what set it off." Anna replied.

Daryl fired his weapon at the walkers who got to close to him, and he grunted. Soon, all of the geeks in the building would be on this floor, and he'd be their happy meal. He shook his head in anticipation, and got angry. Not today. He wasn't giving up now. He had to find his brother, and get Anna to her father. Not that…he cared or anything but still.

"For the love of god, turn it off Scout!" He groaned.

"Okay….did that work?" She asked him, as he fired another arrow.

"ugh STOP HELPIN!" He yelled in anger and anxiety.

Daryl spotted a huge group of walkers head toward him and he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Son of a bitch."

He whipped out his shot gun instead, and started firing away at the flesh eating zombies. One by one they went down like dominos, and soon, he had taken down the whole group of them. He went through the double doors down the hall, and picked the first door to his right, which lead him right into the garage. He spotted Scout waving her hands frantically at him, and he ran as fast as he could to her.

…..

"No man, you gotta do it like this."

Daryl took the dead bird from Anna, and started plucking feathers from its wings and body.

"you gotta do it quick, otherwise it's more messy."

Anna watched eagerly as Daryl worked on cleaning the dead bird for their meal. They had decided to stop for the night near the woods, a small camp fire going.

"Sorry mister wilderness, I've never hunted before."

Daryl chuckled, and placed the tiny body on the stick, and then roasted it over the fire.

"look…..back at the laboratory? I'm sorry, I messed up an-"

"Don't worry about it."

Anna stared at him, and then she pulled out here several kitchen knifes from her belt, and started to clean them.

She tilted her head to the stars, and stared at them for awhile, and then she smirked, rubbing her shirt over the blade to clean it thoroughly.

"My dad used to take me star gazing when I was little….." she whispered quietly.

Daryl didn't say anything to that. He didn't want to hear about how everyone's dad was the greatest when his wasn't. That's one thing he didn't like about Anna; she talked about her father to much. But, Daryl did admire how brave and tough she was. Yet, he didn't ever want to admit that to her face, because if he did, then that would mean they were friends, and he didn't need any damn friends.

She gazed at him, and sighed. She looked at the fire, and then back to him, and then back to the fire.

"Do you have any family?" She asked, and Daryl immediately tensed up.

"No" he quickly answered, and spun the bird slowly over the fire.

Anna pursed her lips, and chewed on her nail nervously.

Daryl knew it wasn't fair to Anna that he was being so short with her, but he was never going to talk about his family. Or his past. Ever in that regard.

"Anna….what if we get to Palmetto, and there's no rescue groups or anything?" He suddenly asked.

Scout looked at him, her green eyes shining in the moonlight.

"I have hope." She muttered more to herself then him.

Daryl didn't know if he heard her right. She had hope? Well,….he didn't know what to say to that. He too, had a tiny sliver of hope. Hope that he would find his big brother again, Hope that this shit would all end, hope that things would go back to normal for him…..but, he had a feeling hope wouldn't be enough.

"I guess that's what a lot of people are depending on…..including me."

She glanced at him, and nodded. She pointed at the bird.

"I think it's ready."

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	15. Acquaintance

**sjhort chapter, focusing on Daryls inner turmoil. Please PLEASE REVIEW!**

Chapter 15: Acquaintance

Daryl and Anna traveled for four days, stopping in each nearby town to see if there were any survivors or supplies. In the course of those four days, their car once again, broke down, and could not be fixed without the proper parts. They had to foot it. They found very few things that they could take, because each city was already looted, or stolen. They met one teenage boy who said everyone was on their way to Atlanta in search of the army.

Today was hot. Almost a hundred degrees. Georgia was known for it's cold winters and hot summers. It was absolutely ridiculous to Daryl, and he hated it so much.

Sweat poured from his forehead, and into his eyes. His crossbow felt like it weighed a hundred pounds too on his back. He grabbed for his plastic bottle for water, and took a huge gulp. He glanced at Anna, and noticed she was struggling too. He held out the water bottle to her, and she looked up at him.

"go on, you need it." He muttered.

She pursed her lips, and then she took the bottle from him. She took a sip and handed it back to him.

"Thanks." She said, and sighed.

Daryl didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to talk to her, or something. He knew it was stupid and she probably didn't like him. Probably was thinking of ditching him as soon as he got her to Palmetto. That depleted Daryl's confidence. So he awkwardly kicked some stones along the road, just to get his mind off the heat for a little while.

Anna walked quietly beside him, concentrating on staying awake, and walking. Daryl walked next to her, which was comforting and strange to her. She hardly knew this man. He never spoke about his past, or what his plan was, or anything. Yet, she felt like she knew him. He seemed shy and quiet, and she felt like that was her fault.

"….What is you plan?"

The hunter looked at her strangely for a second, and then he looked back to the ground. He was quiet for several moments, and she guessed he wasn't going to answer anytime soon. Suddenly, he responded.

"I don't know."

Anna looked at him again, and could tell he felt uncomfortable.

"Is it something I said?" She asked.

Daryl breathed out through his nose and shook his head.

Anna glared at him for a bit before she averted her gaze back to the stony pavement.

"What're the angel wings for?"

"what?"

Anna pointed to his back.

"Those. Are you supposed to be my guardian angel?" She chuckled, and didn't expect a answer, but she got one anyway.

"….I wouldn't be good at it."

Anna stopped grinning, and sighed. She rubbed the back of her hot neck and looked at the sunburned redneck.

"Don't say that…..i'm sure you would be…." She stopped, realizing how stupid that sounded.

Daryl looked at her. What was she playing at? And why was she being so nice to him? Daryl's eyes averted to the ground.

"Hey, it'd be pretty cool to fly like one, wouldn't it?"

He nodded. How dumb. But he had to admit, that would be pretty cool if he could fly. Daryl shook his head. No. Merle would kill him if he found out what Daryl was thinking.

Anna was about to say something else, but when she glanced at Daryl, it looked like he was in his own little world. She shut her mouth, and continued to walk.

The highway opened up into four lanes, and they were all jam packed with cars and turned over trucks. Only a few walkers were stumbling around, and could easily be avoided. Daryl stepped in front of Anna to scope out the situation. Three walkers to the left, two to the far right, and one up ahead. He turned to Anna and pressed a finger to his lip, indicating silence. He led her to a black jeep, and then he stalked quietly to the left. He grabbed the first walkers, who was feeding on a dead fox, and stuck the knife in it's head, and twisted hard. He dragged it's corpse to another car, and then he continued on. The next two walkers were side by side, staggering in what seemed like slow motion. Daryl snuck up behind them, and grabbed them by the head. He smashed them against each other repeatedly, until their skulls were in pieces, and bloody brain bits stuck to his finger nails. The next two were easy to take out, simply shooting them with his trusty crossbow, and then the last one he led away with a broken bottle. He gestured for Anna to follow him quietly, and the made it past the last walker without a sound.

Daryl scoped out the area one last time, until he almost bumped into Anna, who was staring straight ahead.

"What the hell?"

Anna pointed into the distance, and Daryl squinted hard, until he could make out the faint outline of Palmetto estates, and then beyond that, was probably Atlanta.

"We're almost there." Anna breathed.

Daryl scoffed, and then smirked. "Good, the sooner the better." He muttered.

Anna blinked, and then decided to ignore the comment.

"it's at least a days walk from here, and it's starting to get dark."

Anna pushed past him. "I'll find some wood."

Daryl watched her disappear into the woods beyond the highway. He decided to go the opposite direction to go find some meat or something to tide them over. He checked on his arrow situation, and set up the crossbow so it was ready to fire.

His head was a jumble of thoughts though. He seriously couldn't' figure it out. First of all, why had Anna been in his dreams? That's what freaked him out the most when he first met her. The dreams didn't make much sense either. All he knew was he wasn't supposed to be caught by the black smoke. But, obviously there was no black smoke to run from. He pushed that thought aside, telling his brain to forget it, it wasn't important. Especially now. But somehow, his head kept making him think. He wanted to know if his brother Merle was at Atlanta. That was their plan, he recalled before his dumbass brother abandoned him. Again. As soon as he found him, his ass was dead meat. But the thought that kept bothering him so much was just Anna. He never felt this way. Ever. In his life. He couldn't describe it. It felt like his stomach twisted into tiny knots when she talked to him. And he thought he was gonna throw up, but he never did. It was so weird. He decided it was best to ignore it, and just focus on hunting for now. But it was still on his mind.

…..

Anna fell asleep after their meal of rabbit meat. Daryl glared at her sleeping form while he cleaned his weapons. He was also taking inventory on their supplies, and it wasn't very good. Low on everything. The sooner he got rid of Anna, the better. He could be on his own again, and be at peace, but his gut and head were saying that he might actually miss Anna's company. But before that thought could get any better or worse, he shut his head down. No sissy thoughts he told himself. It will only make you weak, and that was something you can't be during the outbreak. Or you'll end up dying for sure.


	16. Goodbye

**Bit of a short chapter, but hey here you guys go. We are coming to the end of this fic (what?) yes I said it. but I'm not done with the storyline yet. This was considered part one of a series I want to do. So this is the beginning of the apocalypse. Next fic I'm going to write will be all about season one. so I'm breaking up the story. I'm not sure I anyone will read this pile of bullshit, but whatever. Here you guys go**

Chapter 16: Goodbye

Daryl awoke bright and early the next day so that he could get to the city before noon. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, due to the fact that he was torn into two. Part of him was glad that Anna was leaving today. He could finally move on to finding his brother, and then figuring out what to do next. But, the bigger, more heartfelt part of him said he didn't want Anna to go. Daryl couldn't say he had "feelings" for her in that regard, but he did consider her a good survivalist. And she was kind to him, something he hadn't experienced. But he told himself that it was a trick women played. They pretend to be all nice and sweet, but when someone or something better came along, they stabbed you in the back. That's what Merle told him, despite his libido. But no matter what he told himself, he just couldn't decide.

He stood up from the hard ground, and stretched his arms, his muscles twitching and churning underneath tanned skin. He searched the ground for his crossbow, but his eyes landed on Anna. He stared at her, she looked so peaceful and content…..

Daryl quickly turned his head and found his crossbow. He cleared his throat, and kicked the log Anna's head was resting on. She startled awake and eyed him groggily.

"Well good morning to you too…." She muttered and sat up.

Daryl smirked slightly and watched her stretch and stand up.

"We should get goin." He stated as blunt as he could, like her leaving him didn't faze him at all.

She nodded, and got her bag together. Daryl did the same, and glanced behind his back once or twice when she wasn't looking. His head was screaming no, but a tiny part of his heart, was saying yes.

….

The city was barren as far as the hunter could tell. Not a walker or human being in sight. He wasn't sure if he should be glad or suspicious, so he was a little of both. Anna held back a little bit, searching every alleyway and parking lot there was, but there was no sign of any human being anywhere. Daryl's body was tense with anticipation and ready to strike if needed, but it wasn't just the walkers he was worried about…..what if there were looters around? He needed to protect Anna just in case though he knew Anna could do just fine on her own, he felt like he was her shield in some cases.

Anna's face was a mix of emotions. Her lips were pursed in a determined line, Her eyes showed nervousness, her eyebrows arched in surprise, and her body was crouched in a slumped position, like she was ready to attack anyone who dare lay a finger on her.

Daryl had made a backup plan in his head, and he had considered it before. He figured it Palmetto did have evacuation choppers, why not take one to a shelter? Maybe his brother was already at one waiting for him. He knew Merle was smart enough to do something like that if they got separated, but if he had the chance to get out of this living hell, by all means he was going to take that chance.

Daryl all of the sudden heard an engine of a car in the distance, and he squinted at the dip of the road up ahead. Climbing that dip, was a squad car, driving slowly but surely. Daryl got his crossbow ready to shoot, but Anna laid a gentle hand on his.

"It's my dad." She said, relief flowing through her voice.

Daryl looked at his hand. She had touched him. Like, body to body contact…..he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

The car pulled up to reveal a pale man, maybe in his early sixties in the drivers seat. The man turned his head, and Daryl saw the black eye he had, and the bloody nose.

"….See you around cowboy." Anna said, and she offered him a smile that warmed Daryl's insides. She fished in her pocket, and pulled out a red handkerchief. She threw it to him, and he caught it with one hand. She smiled once again at him, and climbed into the car. Before they drove off, the man stared at Daryl with such intensity, Daryl thought that he was going to burn under his gaze. The man, Anna's father finally looked away, and drove off quickly.

Daryl fingered the soft red material of the handkerchief. It was his memento of Anna. He quickly slung his crossbow to his back, and tied the handkerchief to one of his belt loops. He then looked back up in the direction of the squad car, but it was gone.

….

Daryl decided it was probably best to quickly search the house's nearby for supplies, since he was once again low. His first house was a cream colored one story, with brown shutters. It would have been a beautiful house, except one of the windows was broken, and several bullet holes were decorating the siding. He hopped over the pile of stuff barricading the door, and went inside. It was dark, and it felt empty, except it wasn't. He heard weeping, and groaning, as if someone was in a lot of pain. He crept into the living room to investigate, and saw light pouring out of a crack by a nearby door. The weeping and whispering grew louder, and he slowly pushed the door aside, raising his crossbow.

A man, with white hair and big glasses stared at him. He was holding the hand of a pale and sick women on the bed next to him. She was crying, tears streaming down her face, and the man was trying to make an effort in comforting her as best as he could.

"Are you here for the evacuation point?" He asked.

Daryl nodded, and kept his crossbow raised, just in case this was a trick.

The man was quiet for a little bit, but then he let out a sigh.

"We did to, and we came here to look for our daughters, Amy and Andrea….But my wife, well…..you need to talk to Aidan about that stuff. He's in charge of signaling the evac choppers."

Daryl nodded. "Know where the guy is?"

The man looked out the boarded window, and rubbed his face. "Yeah, he and his wife are in the house across the way, but I don't know if he's there."

Daryl gave a curt nod, and was just about to leave when the man held up a hand.

"Can I ask you a favor? There's a pharmacy down the street with some medicine in it. If you could get my wife something to just….ease her pain, I would be very grateful."

Daryl nodded again, and turned to leave. He exited the house, and headed south towards the pharmacy, but he didn't have much time left.

He had one chance.


	17. Navigation

Chapter 17: Navigation

**Authors note at the end of this chapter**

….

It felt like an hour passed by as he searched the nearby house's for this Aidan guy. The hunter found lots of useful supplies like bandages, two extra water bottles, a bottle of aerosol spray, and a flashlight. But no such luck with any medicines or guys named Aidan. The neighborhood seemed useless, so he figure his best bet on finding this guy and the medicine was at the South side of the small town.

Daryl's annoyance only grew with the man's request. He didn't have time for this shit. He needed to get to a chopper as soon as he could. And now he had to go get medicine for a possibly dying woman he didn't even know. His heart only disagreed with him, telling him that he was saving another life, that he was doing the right thing. He could almost hear Merle laughing at his ass for being such a pushover, but Merle was a dick, a jerk in any way. And Daryl was not like him. HE felt as if he were weaker than Merle, especially since there was an apocalypse going on, and people really did need help constantly. Daryl hadn't minded it before, but now it was just exhausting. He kept telling himself that someday, karma will do him a favor, Hopefully.

The South side was boarded up heavily, and Daryl knew why. Walkers must be on the other side. And that meant more killing, and that meant more ammo needed to be used. Every little thing adds up when you're struggling to survive. Daryl jumped the makeshift fence, and saw about fifteen walkers alone on the street. None of the dead saw him, and he quickly dashed behind a thick oak tree. He got his crossbow ready, and made sure his hunter's knife was secure enough and ready to grab if his crossbow failed him. He grunted, and crouched a little bit. He started walking slowly to the next hide out post, his crossbow scanning the area. Luckily, no zombies saw him, and he got to his destination without losing an arrow. He waited for his next chance, and when the zombies backs were turned, he moved on to his next hiding place. It was like playing hide and go seek, except he was the only hider, and the seekers were cannibalistic beings that would kill him if they got the chance.

Daryl spotted the pharmacy a little bit down the road. Five or six walkers guarded the place, and he could easily handle it. He crouched low again, and fired at the three closest walkers within range. They all went down like dominos. The fourth walker had spotted him, and was making its way over to where he was crouching. Daryl grabbed his hunting knife, and threw it at the zombies head. It let out a squeak, and fell to the ground with a thud. Daryl ran up to it, and grabbed the knife from its head. He also collected the arrows from the previous walkers he had killed. He pushed the door of the pharmacy open, and gasped as a limp, fully dead body of a female fell at his feet. Her mouth and eyes were wide open, and her hands were bloody. Daryl's glanced at the door, and saw bloody fingerprints that looked like they were dragged, trying to escape. The body didn't look that old, but it was still decomposing. The hunter carefully stepped over the body, and entered the pharmacy, his crossbow ready just in case. The redneck saw a tiny shelf with small bottles of Advil, and generic painkillers. HE grabbed a bottle or two for himself, and then two for the couple he had met. He placed his backpack on his shoulder, and decided to exit the building through the back. But just as he was about to leave, he heard a yell, and a crash from the roof. He knew it was someone alive, because he could hear a string of curses follow after the yell. He decided to go check it out because maybe it was this Aidan guy he was looking for,

…..

Turns out, it was Aidan. And he had twisted his ankle. He told Daryl that there wasn't much time left, and there was only one evacuation chopper left. He said he dropped a bag in the mechanic shop next door, and it had smoke pots to signal the choppers. Of course, he had to go get them. Daryl bolted out the alleyway, and made his way into the mechanic shop through the back. There were no walkers in the back, but there were tons of them up front near the doors and front windows. The bag laid in the middle of the floor of the main shop.

Daryl hid behind the counter, and scoped out the situation. The zombies were looking out through the windows, and they were distracted at the moment. This might be his only chance, so he quickly grabbed the bag and made a run for it. He heard the snarls of the walkers behind him, and he knew they were coming for him. He hurried to the roof again where Aidan was there waiting for him.

"okay, we have 90 seconds until the pick up. Go get Harrison, and my wife. If you don't bring them back, you're not getting on."

Again, helping people.

**There are three really important things I want to discuss real quick, so bare with me.**

**1. ****Fic is almost done/ future****2. ****Reasoning for this chapter****3. ****New fiction I've posted****1. ****Okay so guess what? This fic is almost done! Only two more chapters. Now your probably thinking "hey, I thought you said it was all about Daryl, his story?" yes that is absolutely true. However, I felt like this story would be soooo long to write, and that everyone is interested in certain parts of Daryls stories. So, I'm splitting it all up. So this fic was all about the video game, and what happened before Daryl and Merle got to the group. The next one will be based on season one. Then the next on season 2, and blah blah blah you get it. Now, I'm can't be sure when I will be posting the next story, because this next month will be a little tough and stuff, so yeah. But it will get done, trust me. As of this fic, like I said, it's almost done.****2. ****I named it navigation, because Daryl is navigating his way throughout the whole fic. When he was in his cabin way in the beginning, to when he was in the hospitals, and so one. He's also navigating his way through his heart and mind in a sense. I fell like this is appropriate because he is a confusing guy to figure out, and he can't even figure out himself, would be interesting to see. So the next fic and season 2 will be more focused on his personal struggles within himself. So just a heads up for future reference.****3. ****And my new fanfiction, for all you Boondock saints, and Norman Reedus fans is called One Angel. If your interested, please give it a read and a review. I think it's going well, and I have a very angsty and relationshippy plot going on with that one so yeah, have fun reading it.**

**Thanks guys**


	18. Choppers

**Sorry about the small hiatus. I had to think about how I was gonna write this shit, so that I could fit it in two chapters. so yeah here you go. Please review man.**

Chapter 18: Choppers

**June 18th, 1994, 5:37 AM**

Today was an important day. Not because it was garbage day, or cleaning day. Oh no. Daryl Dixon had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. So long, he was counting the seconds down to this moment. He was nervous, but very excited, though he hardly showed it because his father would still smack him on the back of the head for being a pansy. It was even better, because Merle wasn't home, and his father was still sleeping. The countless sleepless nights bothered him, yet he loved it. The thrill of breaking the rules made his heart leap with much anticipation. He just wanted to see the look on his father's face when he would see what Daryl was doing.

Daryl's shabby bedroom was suddenly filled with the tiniest amount of light. He had turned on his lamp, and practically tripped over the covers of his sheets. He pulled a pair of his old jeans and a t-shirt on. He couldn't wake his father at all. He gently pushed the window frame open, and took the screen out. He grabbed his pocket knife, and jumped out the small window, though it wasn't that big of a jump to the ground. The young Daryl quietly snuck into the old barn way out in the cornfield out back behind their small house. He pushed the doors open to the barn and breathed heavily in excitement. A white linen sheet covered the car that was in the middle of the barn. He pulled it off to reveal a rusty old Ford pickup form the 80's. His dad had put it out back to rust and decompose, but Daryl had found it one day, and decided to fix it up. He spent months on that screaming metal death trap, but he finally got the damn thing to run. Daryl ran his hand along the faded sky blue paint, thinking he did a pretty nice job on fixing this thing. He considered it his birthday present to himself.

Yep, today was his eighteenth birthday. And he was finally leaving this prison he called home. He was just gonna leave, without his father knowing. Like the old bastard would care anyway. Daryl didn't know where he would go, where he would stay, but he had been saving up for this awhile. And he wasn't gonna scare his goal away from himself. Today, he was a grown adult man, and he could make his own decisions.

Daryl threw his small bag of stuff into the seat next to him, stuck the key into the ignition. The Ford sputtered and whined in protest, but a few pumps of the pedal got it going strong. He smiled in triumph, and put the car into gear, and started to pull out of the barn. He had to skip past the house quietly, and then high tail it when the coast was clear. He was determined to get out of that place that's for sure. He navigated the truck through the marshy grass, but was careful to go super slow. Any sound the truck would make could wake his father, and then he'd be beaten he was sure of it.

Daryl finally reached the house, and slowly eased his foot onto the pedal. The car rolled onto the stony gravel of the driveway. Daryl kept an eye out for any lights that might be turned on in the house, and when the truck eased on past without a slight noise, he let out a sigh of pure relief.

He was free now, free from his father, free from his stupid home! He fetl proud of himself for being so smart!

Right when Daryl was about to speed out of the driveway, A motorcycle came rolling into the driveway, making Daryl's heart drop in sudden fear. His brother, Merle had come home, and he'd seen Daryl.

"What'cha doin boy?!" He yelled as he got closer, his putrid breath stinking of alcohol. Shit, he was done for.

"Get yer white lily ass out here!"

Daryl hung his head in embarrassment and shame. His plan had failed him and he felt like curling up in a ball and letting his father stomp on him. It just wasn't fair.

Merle had a few inches on him, and he was a lot stronger then Daryl, especially now because Daryl was only 17….opps I mean 18. Daryl's heart raced in his chest and he felt like hiding away right now. His older brother was going to tell his old man what he had been trying to do. He'd defiantly sugarcoat the story so it would make him look like the hero.

"What're yew doin?" Merle repeated. He was so close, Daryl could see the red glaze in his eyes. His face was twisted up into a smirk and a knowing look, and it just creeped the younger Dixon out.

"Nothin." Daryl replied in annoyance and fear. Whenever he tried to do something, it always turned to shit for him. He was gonna be in a world of hurt.

"Nothin? Then how did daddy's old pickup get out here, eh? I suppose it didn't just drive itself all the way over here?" Merle said matter of factly, and a small evil smile crept onto his lips. Daryl stood there, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't get him in trouble, but there was only one answer that came to mind, and he didn't think Merle would buy it, but he had to try at least.

"Pop gave it t'me for my birthday…."

The two Dixon brothers stared down one another, and if looks could kill, they'd both be dead. Then, Merle let out a small chuckle and held up his hands.

"Sure little bro. I suppose Pop also said you could leave. Fine by me, as long as I don't hear him beating you up when he finds out your gone."

Daryl still looked at his older brother, not sure if he was joking, or actually letting him off the hook.

"Look little D, I'll pretend I didn't see you drive out of this hellhole, and we'll let Pop figure out what t'do, but just remember, you owe me."

Daryl's chest heaved when he sighed. He was free to go. His brother was letting him go.

"Thanks…..Merle."

Merle made a face and wiped his mouth.

"Don't thank me, just get the hell outta here, you'll be doing me a favor too."

Daryl didn't feel like arguing with him about that comment, so he just turned around and hopped back in his truck, and sped off like a beagle after a rabbit. He was free. Free….

…..

Daryl ran through the town like a madman. They didn't have much time, and he knew that there were gonna be walkers everywhere in a couple of minutes because the smell was getting unbearable. His feet hurt, he was really sweaty, and dirt covered him from head to toe, but he didn't care at the moment. He was very eager to get out of this place, and find his brother. He was going to whoop his ass when he found him, for being so stupid and childish. The hunter let out a puff of air in annoyance for his brother. Yes, siblings were sometimes a pain to have, but he felt like he was the older, more mature one all the time. Merle was like a damn puppy that needed to be on a leash twenty four seven. Daryl actually considered the possibility of that happening.

The hunter weaved his way through the neighboring houses, avoiding walkers as much as possible. He had been right, they were pouring in now from all over the place. He didn't want to waste any of his arrows or bullets taking out one of those mindless shitheads, so he continued walking briskly through the yards of the abandoned houses.

Daryl reached the house where he had met the man Harrison, and flung the front door open. He searched all the rooms for him and his wife. He had gotten the medicine for them, so the lady could get better. Daryl finally found them in the bedroom, and was about to bark orders at the man, but he stopped. Blood had been splattered right above the headboard, and on the yellow linen sheets. The woman was sprawled out on the bed, her eyes were closed, and a bloody hole was right in the middle of her forehead. Harrison was kneeling by the bed, a handgun in laid in front of him. He was murmuring incoherent words that Daryl could barely make out. Daryl didn't want to disturb him in his moments of grieving, but they needed to get the hell out of here now.

"Harrison….we gotta go." Daryl said quietly after a few minutes.

The man looked up sadly at the hunter and slowly rose to his knees. He whipped his face and sighed heavily.

"I assume you found Aidan than….."

Daryl nodded, and was about to reply, when he heard a noise coming from outside. Daryl glanced at Harrison, and they quickly ran through the house, and out the front door to see what was happening. Daryl spotted the red smoke coming from one of the buildings down by the town center, where he had just come from. Daryl cursed, and he silently hoped that that wasn't the chopper Aidan was talking about before he came. But, his hopes were squashed, when he spotted the helicopter fly over the house and towards the red smoke. Daryl cursed once again, and started to pace back and forth for a while, coming up with a plan.

"Are you sure that was the last chopper?" Daryl inquired rather roughly to Harrison. Harrison nodded.

"Pretty sure that was the last one around here."

"Shit…" Daryl said angrily, and he kicked the stone gravel on the ground, sending dust clouds up in the air.

Daryl knew they only had one other choice, but they didn't have much time. They had to travel to Atlanta. And that was at least gonna take one whole day. And he didn't have a working vehicle to take them there. On top of that, he had another person he had to look after. He cursed repeatedly in his mind because he was pretty much screwed. He wanted to do this part by himself, because he didn't want anyone to accompany him in any way. People meant talking. And talking meant telling people stuff. And they'd want to get to know one another, because that's how people were. Daryl just wanted solitude for a couple of days. He wanted to think. He needed to focus on getting his brother, maybe finding a refuge camp where they could crash until this shit got sorted out. Or maybe, him and his brother could survive on their own for awhile. Another thing he wanted to do was see if he could locate Anna…..just to say a proper good bye. He knew it was a sissy thing to do. He barely knew anything about her, but he did know one thing, and that was that she was a storng person. But she'd have to wait. Right now, he needed a major plan. Hell, he didn't know right now. All he knew as that he wanted and needed to get to Atlanta, before all the evacuation units were gone. He sighed, and shook his head.

"We gotta go to Atlanta. Do you know were I can find a working car or somethin?"

Harrison rubbed his white stubble on his chin, and then nodded.

"I got an old ford out in the garage. It's got some gas in it, but not a lot. We might get stuck on the way there."

Daryl waved him off, and headed to the garage. Several walkers were surrounding them, and he took out a few with his crossbow. He grabbed the arrows, and made sure the old man was following him. When the both of them were inside the garage, the hunter placed a broken chair against the door knob.

"She's old, so it's gonna be a bit to get her started up."

Daryl ignored the man, and jumped in the drivers seat. He grabbed the keys from the old man, and shoved them in the ignition. He could hear the snarling and scratching from outside, and he prayed that this car would start up soon. After a few tries, and some cursing, the car finally roared to life. Harrison opened the garage, and they sped out as fast as they could. Daryl glanced in the rearview mirror, and the averted his eyes back to the road. He drove in complete silence for a long time. He was not in the mood for small talk. And any small talk that he would produce would be small but hard yes's or no's. No explanation either. Atlanta was at least a days drive from where they were, and he knew this car wouldn't make it all the way there, but one could hope couldn't they?

They didn't have much supplies, or fuel for the next couple of days, but they were gonna have to make do with it as much as possible. They're main priority was to get to Atlanta. Fast.


End file.
